Table 2.

Characteristics of the included reviews.

Author, year	Country	Trials (sample size)	Treatment intervention	Control intervention	Quality assessment tool	Conclusion summary
Wu [10] 2018	China	10 (851)	SFI + WM	WM	Cochrane criteria	The combined treatment of SFI and WM can significantly improve TCM syndrome, reduce the BNP level, improve the LVEF level, and improve the hemodynamic indicator among patients with HF. However, firm conclusion towards the validity and safety of SFI cannot be drown owing to the low quality of included trails.
Jia et al. [11] 2018	China	17 (1286)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	On the basis of routine treatment of WM, SFI is more effective than WM alone in the treatment of acute left HF.
Wen et al. [12] 2017	China	21 (1630)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	The efficacy of routine treatment of WM combined with SFI in the treatment of HF is better than that with WM alone.
Ma et al. [13] 2017	China	19 (1829)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	SFI is unable to reduce the mortality of chronic HF, but it can significantly improve the quality of life.
Luo et al. [14] 2015	China	25 (1975)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	The curative effect of the treatment on patients with HF with WM plus SFI is better than WM alone.
Du and Dai [15] 2014	China	24 (1743)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	SFI can significantly improve the clinical efficacy, but which needs to be further confirmed by more large-sample, high-quality RCTs.
Xu et al. [16] 2013	China	8 (559)	SFI + WM	WM	Cochrane criteria	The combination of SFI and WM can highly improve the efficacy of HF in old patients.
Huang [17] 2011	China	28 (2070)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	SFI can increase the treatment effective rate of HF and improve heart function. However, this conclusion is limited owing to the poor quality of the included studies.
Hou et al. [18] 2011	China	16 (1117)	SFI + WM	WM	Cochrane criteria	The therapeutic effect of combining WM with SFI on HF patients is better than that of WM alone.
Bin [19] 2010	China	8 (875)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	Compared with WM, the combined treatment of SFI and WM is more effective in the treatment of HF and can significantly improve the clinical symptoms.
Ma et al. [20] 2009	China	70 (5294)	SFI + WM	WM	Jadad	SFI is one of the important and effective drugs for the treatment of cardiac insufficiency, and the conclusion is reliable.
Song et al. [21] 2012	China	97 (8272)	SFI + WM	WM	Cochrane criteria	SFI appears to be effective for treating HF. However, further rigorously designed RCTs are warranted because of insufficient methodological rigor in the majority of included trials.
Guo et al. [22] 2020	China	22 (1753)	SFI + WM	WM	Cochrane criteria	SFI combined with WM can improve the clinical efficiency, reduce BNP, NT-proBNP levels, and improve cardiac function with good safety. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more studies are required to verify the conclusions above.