TABLE 1.
Characteristics of the included studies (a)
| First author (year) | Country | Groups | Number of participants | Sex (M/F) | Age (year) | Duration of diabetes (year) | Characteristics of ulcers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | Initial size (cm2) | Final size (cm2) | Duration | Wagner grade | |||||||
| Chi LX (2002) | China | LLLT | 24 | 13/11 | 56.89 ± 1.08 | NA | 24 | NA | NA | NA | II‐III |
| TT | 16 | 9/7 | 53.54 ± 11.20 | 16 | |||||||
| Chen HJ (2003) | China | LLLT | 36 | 30/6 | 40‐72 | 2‐10 | >36 | NA | NA | 10 days‐6 months | I‐III |
| TT | 13 | 9/4 | 40‐72 | 2‐10 | >13 | 10 days‐6 months | |||||
| Cui ZH (2009) | China | LLLT | 23 | 14/9 | 68.50 ± 5.53 | 5‐20 | 23 | NA | NA | NA | I‐II |
| TT | 23 | 13/10 | 68.12 ± 5.06 | 4‐21 | 23 | ||||||
| Ouyang ZS (2010) | China | LLLT | 20 | 12/8 | 59.6 ± 6.5 | NA | 20 | NA | NA | 1 week‐3 months | I‐III |
| TT | 20 | 9/11 | 56.8 ± 6.4 | 20 | |||||||
| Zhang LJ (2012) | China | LLLT | 12 | 15/9 | 45‐65 | 10‐20 | 12 | 2 × 2‐6 × 6 | NA | 1 week‐2 months | I‐III |
| TT | 12 | 12 | |||||||||
| Minatel DG (2009) | Brazil | LLLT | 7 | NA | 66.3 ± 14.73 | 11.4 ± 11.39 | 13 | 11.8 ± 20.46 | NA | 95.5 ± 33.0 months | NA |
| PLA | 7 | 63.4 ± 11.26 | 11.30 ± 7.40 | 10 | 3.8 ± 4.13 | 28.1 ± 23.6 months | |||||
| Kaviani A (2011) | Iran | LLLT | 13 | 8/3 | 60.2 ± 9.0 | 19.5 ± 6.2 | 13 | 10.7 ± 25.7 | NA | 11.4 ± 8.5 months | I‐II |
| PLA | 10 | 4/3 | 59.4 ± 3.7 | 19.0 ± 4.1 | 10 | 7.8 ± 11.0 | 8.8 ± 3.6 months | ||||
| Landau Z (2011) | Israel | LLLT | 10 | 5/5 | 62.6 | NA | 19 | 1.08 | 0.12 | >8 weeks | I‐II |
| PLA | 6 | 4/2 | 63.4 | NA | 6 | 0.45 | 0.21 | ||||
| Ortíz MCS (2014) | Colombia | LLLT | 9 | 42.9%/57.1% | 59.3 ± 11.8 | 11.2 ± 10.1 | 14 | 62.9* | NA | 16.2 ± 34.6 months | I‐II |
| TT | 9 | 13 | 41.6* | ||||||||
| Kajagar BM (2012) | India | LLLT | 34 | 22/12 | 54.35 ± 6.84 | 5* | 34 | 26.1 ± 6.8 | 15.65 | 5 weeks* | I |
| TT | 34 | 21/13 | 50.94 ± 8.11 | 10* | 34 | 27.5 ± 6.0 | 24.25 | 4 weeks* | |||
| Hoseini SM (2016) | Iran | LLLT | 15 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | II |
| PLA | 12 | ||||||||||
| Mathur RK (2017) | India | LLLT | 15 | 9/6 | 54 | ~5.2 | 15 | ~14.84 | ~9.3 | 56 days | I |
| TT | 15 | 11/4 | 49 | ~5.0 | 15 | ~13.52 | ~11.46 | 51 days | |||
| Santos JAF (2018) | Brazil | LLLT | 9 | NA | 53.11 ± 8.85 | NA | 9 | 1.83 ± 1.08 | 0.32 ± 0.26 | 6.00 ± 7.23 months | II‐III |
| TT | 9 | 48.33 ± 2.09 | 9 | 2.97 ± 1.66 | 1.63 ± 1.57 | 13.00 ± 13.58 months | |||||
Abbreviations: NA, not available; LLLT, low‐level laser therapy; TT, traditional treatment; PLA, placebo; *, median; PCBG, postprandial capillary blood glucose.