Characteristic	Quan SL, 2008	Tian X, 2007	Wang DG, 2003	Wang WH, 2006	Wang XL, 2004	Xu CB, 2000	Xu SG, 2002	Zhang G, 2005
Intervention(s) & control(s)	I: Xuezhikang C: simvastatin	I: Xiaozhiling (herb mixture) C: simvastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: pravastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: atorvastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: simvastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: pravastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: lovastatin	I: Xuezhikang C: atorvastatin
Participating population	102	68	79	142	30	195	68	60
Sex [female% / male%]	31.4%/68.6% (32/70)	45.6%/54.4% (31/37)	41.8%/58.2% (33/46)	43.7%/56.3% (62/80)	33.3%/66.7% (10/20)	39.0%/61.0% (76/119)	35.3%/64.7% (24/44)	48.3%/51.7% (29/31)
Age [mean years (SD)]	60‐80	./.	I: 52 (9) C: 56 (1)	./.	./.	./.	I: 52 (6.8) C: 56 (7.3)	./.
Duration of disease [mean years (SD)]	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.
Ethnic groups [%]	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100	Chinese: 100
Duration of intervention	8 weeks	3 months	8 weeks	8 weeks	8 weeks	24 weeks	8 weeks	8 weeks
Duration of follow up	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.	./.
FootnotesC./.: not reported C: control; I: intervention.