Table 1.
The basic characteristics of included studies.
| Study | Study design | Sample size | Age (years) | Disease duration | Diagnostic criteria | Treatment duration (d) | Follow-up | Adverse reaction/event | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zhang, 2013 [28] | RCT | E: 36 | E: 45.72 ± 10.11 | E: 11.15 ± 9.34 (m) | Criteria (1994) | 28 | 1 (m) | E: BA | ER; AE |
| C: 34 | C: 45.68 ± 9.33 | C: 9.49 ± 9.86 (m) | C: GR | ||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Wu et al., 2008 [29] | RCT | E: 35 | E: 32–72 | E: mean = 5.1 (a) | Criteria (1994) | 20 | 2 (m) | NA | ER |
| C: 35 | C: 28–71 | C: mean = 4.8 (a) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Guo and Yan, 2013 [33] | RCT | E: 50 | E: 53.68 ± 5.14 | E: 21.90 ± 13.91 (m) | Criteria (1992) | 20 | NA | NA | ER; CSR |
| C: 50 | C: 52.42 ± 8.96 | C: 19.24 ± 13.44 (m) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Luo and Xu, 2012 [34] | RCT | E: 47 | E: 55 ± 4 | E: 12.0 ± 2.6 (m) | Criteria (1992) | 20 | NA | NA | ER; Vm |
| C: 46 | C: 58 ± 4 | C: 10.1 ± 2.5 (m) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Yu et al., 2005 [35] | RCT | E: 33 | E: 46.3 ± 4.5 | E: 2.6 ± 1.3 (a) | Criteria (1992) | 14 | NA | NA | ER; Vm |
| C: 32 | C: 47.1 ± 5.5 | C: 4.5 ± 1.7 (a) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Liu and Shan, 2015 [30] | RCT | E: 48 | E: 48.42 ± 5.31 | E: 5.64 ± 1.17 (a) | Criteria (1994) | 10 | NA | E: NO | ER; AE |
| C: 48 | C: 46.35 ± 10.21 | C: 4.98 ± 1.24 (a) | C: NO | ||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Deng, 2006 [31] | RCT | E: 64 | E: 51.5 ± 6.1 | E: 38.2 ± 5.6 (d) | Criteria (1994) | 30 | NA | NA | ER |
| C: 50 | C: 48.1 ± 6.5 | C: 36.2 ± 7.1 (d) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Hua and Li, 2009 [36] | RCT | E: 60 | E: 20–61 | E: 1–10 (a) | Criteria (1992) | 10 | NA | NA | ER; CSR |
| C: 60 | C: 20–61 | C: 1–10 (a) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Wu et al., 2010 [37] | RCT | E: 44 | E: 58 ± 13 | E: 3.81 ± 0.59 (a) | Criteria (1992) | 15 | NA | NA | ER |
| C: 42 | C: 62 ± 13 | C: 3.54 ± 0.55 (a) | |||||||
|
| |||||||||
| Lin et al., 2011 [32] | RCT | E: 50 | E: 56.64 ± 9.87 | E: 2.43 ± 2.82 (a) | Criteria (1994) | 28 | NA | E: NO | ER; Vm |
| C: 50 | C: 57.16 ± 9.42 | C: 2.46 ± 2.39 (a) | C: GR | AE | |||||
E: experiment group; C: control group; a: annual; m: month; d: day; Criteria (1994): Diagnosis and Therapeutic Criteria of TCM (1994); Criteria (1992): Diagnostic criteria proposed by the Second National Symposium on Cervical Spondylosis (1992); NA: not available; BA: bruising and allergy of skin; GR: gastrointestinal reaction; ER: effective rate; AE: adverse event; CSR: improvement rate of clinical symptoms; Vm: average blood flow velocity of vertebral-basilar artery; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine.