Table 3.
Quality of evidence for the main findings.
| Outcome | No. of participants (RCTs) | Quality of evidence (GRADE) | Relative risk (95% CI) | Anticipated absolute effects (95% CI) | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk with control intervention | Risk with treatment intervention | |||||
| HM versus placebo | ||||||
| SCORAD score | 25 (1 RCT) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
— | — | MD 10.65 lower [-16.24, -5.06] | Risk of bias (−1) Imprecision (−1) |
| TER | 25 (1 RCT) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
RR 9.43 [1.44, 61.85] | 91 per 1,000 | 857 per 1,000 [131, 1,091] | Risk of bias (−1) Imprecision (−1) |
| Adverse events rate | 178 (3 RCTs) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
RR 1.23 [0.65, 2.35] | 154 per 1,000 | 189 per 1,000 [100, 362] | Risk of bias (−1) Imprecision (−1) |
|
| ||||||
| HM versus active controls | ||||||
| SCORAD score | 1,285 (17 RCTs) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
— | — | MD 11.39 lower [-14.21, -8.57] | Risk of bias (−1) Inconsistency (−1) |
| TER | 2,812 (33 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊕○ MODERATE |
RR 1.31 [1.23, 1.40] | 703 per 1,000 | 921 per 1,000 [864, 984] | Risk of bias (−1) |
| Adverse events rate | 1,507 (19 RCTs) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
RR 0.40 [0.26, 0.64] | 98 per 1,000 | 39 per 1,000 [25, 63] | Risk of bias (−1) Imprecision (−1) |
|
| ||||||
| HM combined with active controls versus active controls alone | ||||||
| SCORAD score | 333 (4 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊕○ MODERATE |
— | — | MD 6.05 lower [-7.86, -4.25] | Risk of bias (−1) |
| TER | 1,329 (17 RCTs) | ⊕⊕○○ LOW |
RR 1.19 [1.06, 1.34] | 797 per 1,000 | 948 per 1,000 [845, 1,068] | Risk of bias (−1) Publication bias (−1) |
| Adverse events rate | 558 (8 RCTs) | ⊕○○○ VERY LOW |
RR 1.21 [0.43, 3.39] | 78 per 1,000 | 94 per 1,000 [33, 265] | Risk of bias (−1) Inconsistency (−1) Imprecision (−1) |
CI, confidence interval; GRADE, grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation; HM, herbal medicine; MD, mean difference; RCT, randomized controlled trial; RR, risk ratio; SCORAD, scoring atopic dermatitis; TER, total effective rate.