Table 1. Characteristics of the included studies.

Author, Year	Sample size (EG▴)	Sample size (CG▴)	Age (EG)	Age (CG)	Disease severity (EG)	Disease severity (CG)	Intervention methods (/d) (EG)	Intervention methods (/d) (CG)	Duration treatment (/d) (EG/)	Duration treatment (/d) (CG)
Yigong Zhang, 2000 [21] ▪	63	50	20∼76	24∼68	The single joint disease: 54; uratoma:28; kidney damage: 1.	The single joint disease: 39; uratoma:10; kidney damage: 7.	Atractylodes lancea, Poria cocos, Polyporus Umbellatus, Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones et al.	Colchicine	10	10
Liping Huang, 2003 [22]	32	32	27∼63	27∼63	The course of disease:1∼6 years.	The course of disease:1∼6 years.	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (30 g), Coix Seed (30 g), Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (30 g) et al.	Allopurinol (0.1 g*3)	10	10
Pingyong Li, 2004 [23]	60	64	37∼72	34∼72	Primary gout; Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Primary gout; Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (20 g), Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae(20 g), Dioscorea tokoro (20 g) et al.	Colchicine (4∼8 mg), Allopurinol (0.3 g), Ibuprofen (0.1 g*3)	10	10
Chongqing Yang, 2006 [24] ▪	30	30	18∼70	18∼70	The course of disease:1∼5 years.	The course of disease:1∼5 years.	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae, Dioscorea tokoro Makino, Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones et al.	Diclofenac Sodium Enteric-coated Tablets (25 mg*3)♦	7	7
Lianqun Qiu, 2007 [25]	34	16	38∼74	35–69	The course of disease:0.5∼20 years	The course of disease:1∼16 years	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (30 g), Semen Brassicae (20 g), Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones et al.	Allopurinol(0.1 g*2∼3), Meloxicam (7.5 mg)	15	15
Huajie Wang, 2008 [26] ▪	42	41	22∼65	22∼65	Primary gout: 42; kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Primary gout: 41; kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae, Dioscorea tokoro Makino, Radix Achyranthis Bidentatae, et al.	Colchicine (0.5 mg), Benzbromarone (50 mg)	21	21
Chenglong Tang, 2008 [27]	30	26	28∼68	28∼68	The course of disease: 1 month∼12 years.	The course of disease: 1 month∼12 years.	Atractylodes lancea (10 g), Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (10 g), Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (12 g) et al.	Colchicine (0.5 mg*2) Allopurinol (0.2 g*3)	15	15
Ying Lu, 2008 [28] ▪	120	96	47∼78	47∼78	The single joint disease: 216; uratoma:20; kidney damage: 76; coronary heart disease: 32.§	No independent report based on this data has yet published.	Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (15 g), Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae (15 g), Coix Seed (15 g), Radix Angelicae Pubescentis (25 g), Geosaurus, Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (25 g) et al.	Colchicine, Allopurinol	30	30
Jin Yang, 2010 [29]	30	30	40∼65	30∼64	The course of disease: 2 ∼10years.	The course of disease: 2 ∼10years.	Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (10 g), Atractylodes lancea (10 g), Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (10 g), et al.	Difene (75 mg), Allopurinol (0.1 g*3)	7	7
Bing Ji, 2010 [30]	30	30	51.77±7.92	52.93±2.87	The course of disease: 5.67±2.87 years.	The course of disease: 5.50±2.76 years.	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (30 g), Rhizoma Polygoni Cuspidati (8 g), Coix Seed (30), Radix Cyathulae (15 g), et al.	Colchicine (0.5 mg*3), Celebrex (0.2 mg)	7	7
Xiaoxia Wang, 2010 [31]	30	30	48.5±15.5	49.1±13.7	The course of disease: 1day∼12 years.	The course of disease: 2 day∼8 years.	Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (12 g), Semen Persicae (12 g), Atractylodes lancea (12 g), Rhizoma Alismatis (20 g), et al.	Colchicine (0.5 g*2)	10	10
Yu Ding, 2011 [32]	40	36	28∼73	30∼80	The course of disease: 12 h∼13 years. Recurrence: 12	The course of disease: 10 h∼15 years. Recurrence: 14	Atractylodes lancea (10 g), Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (6 g), Coix Seed (20 g), Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (20 g) et al.	Allopurinol (0.1 g) Colchicine (0.5 g), Indomethacin (25 mg)	7∼21	7∼21
Xizhou Zhang, 2011 [33]	45	45	33∼60	35∼58	The course of disease: 3 month ∼6 years.	The course of disease: 3 month ∼8 years.	Radix Scutellariae (6 g), Coptis chinensis Franch (6 g), Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (12 g), Lilium brownii (12 g), et al.	Ibuprofen (0.3 g*2), Allopurinol (0.1 g*3)	10	10
Mengyuan Liu, 2011 [34]	30	30	35∼65	39∼65	Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Atractylodes lancea (30 g), Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (10 g), Coix Seed (30 g), Lilium brownii (10 g), et al.	Allopurinol (0.1 g*2) nimesulide (0.1 g)	21	21
Yongkai Huang, 2011 [35]	15	15	50.5±13.3	51.5±14.2	Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Kidney, liver damage: 0; coronary heart disease: 0; allergy: 0.	Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (45 g), Dioscorea tokoro Makino (30 g), Coix Seed (30 g), Bombyx Batryticatus (15 g) et al.	Meloxicam Tablets (15 mg)•	7	7
Yadong Han, 2011 [36] ▪	60	48	47∼78	47∼78	The single joint disease: 108; kidney damage: 38; coronary heart disease: 18.§	No independent report based on this data has yet published.	Cortex Phellodendri Chinensis (15 g), Radix Stephaniae Tetrandrae (15 g), Coix Seed (15 g), Lilium brownii (15 g), et al.	Colchicine, Allopurinol	30	30
Baiyan Qin, 2011 [37]	46	46	47.2±11.7	48.0±10.5	The course of disease: 6 h∼23 years. Recurrence: 31	The course of disease: 10 h∼19 years. Recurrence: 29	Fructus Ligustri Lucidi (15 g), Rhizoma Anemarrhenae (10 g), Pseudbubus Cremastra Seu pleiones (15 g) et al.	Colchicine (0.5 mg*2), Allopurinol (0.1 g*3)	10	10

^▴EG Experimental group, CG Control group;

^▪No dose be provided of intervention;

^♦The molecular formula of main ingredients: C14H10Cl2NNa02;

^•The molecular formula of main ingredients: C14H13N3O4S2;

^§Including the data of experimental group and control group.