TABLE 2.

Large and well-designed RCTs with CHMs.

Study	N	Therapeutic Arms	Disease	Primary Outcomes	Duration of Intervention (weeks)	Outcomes
Li et al. (2015)	180	TSF vs. placebo	Diabetic nephropathy	Changes of UAER and 24 h-UP	24	UAER: −19.53 (−52.47, 13.41) vs. −7.01 (−47.33, 33.73) μg/min; p = 0.70. 24 h UP: −0.21 (−0.48, 0.06) vs. 0.36 (−0.04, 0.76) g/24 h; p = 0.03
Zhang et al. (2014b)	417	Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik. vs. losartan vs. Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik. + losartan	Primary glomerular disease	Change in 24 h-UP	24	-508 ± 457 vs. −376 ± 577 (p = 0.003) vs. −545 ± 500 mg/24 h (p < 0.001)
Qiu et al. (2014)	479	Rehmannia glutinosa acteosides + irbesartan vs. irbesartan	Primary chronic glomerulonephritis	Percent change of 24 h-UP	8	36.42 ± 43.17 vs. 27.97 ± 50.28%; p = 0.03
Chen et al. (2013b)	190	Shenqi particle vs. prednisone + cyclophosphamide	Idiopathic membranous nephropathy	Complete remission or partial remission	48	46/63 (73.0%) vs. 54/69 (78.3%); p = 0.5
Wang et al. (2012b)	578	CHMs vs. benazepril vs. CHMs vs. CHMs + benazepril	Primary glomerulonephritis in CKD stage 3	eGFR	24	48.46 ± 15.90 vs. 43.00 ± 12.37 vs. 48.31 ± 17.50 ml/min; p < 0.05

TSF, Tangshen Formula; UAER, Changes of urinary albumin excretion rate; 24 h-UP, 24-h urinary protein; CHMs, Chinese herbal medicines; eGFR, estimated glomerular filtration rate.