Table 1.
Characteristics of the included studies.
| Author, year | Sample size | Sex (male/female) | Age (years) | Treatment | Treatment cycle | Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EG | CG | EG | CG | EG | CG | EG | CG | |||
| Lin ZX, 2008 [21] | 53 | 54 | 15/38 | 16/38 | 63.5 ± 8.7 | 65.7 ± 9.2 | ZQFTN 120 mg bid + CG | Diclofenac sodium sustained-release tablets | 6 months | TER, AE |
| Tang C, 2010 [22] | 33 | 30 | 18/15 | 16/14 | 58.5 ± 8.3 | 59.8 ± 8.1 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Glucosamine sulfate capsules | 6 weeks | TER |
| Liu YL, 2011 [23] | 40 | 40 | 19/21 | 22/18 | 63 ± 8 | 62 ± 8 | ZQFTN 60 mg tid + CG | Glucosamine hydrochloride capsules | 3 months | TER, WOMAC, AE |
| Zhao HY, 2011 [24] | 40 | 40 | - | - | 59.975 ± 11.077 | 61.200 ± 10.649 | ZQFTN 120 mg bid + CG | Celecoxib | 8 weeks | TER, AE |
| Xu YX, 2013 [25] | 35 | 35 | 18/17 | 17/18 | 52 | 53 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid | Diacerein capsules | 8 weeks | TER, AE |
| Zhu FX, 2013 [26] | 43 | 43 | 12//31 | 13/30 | 65.17 ± 8.73 | 64.93 ± 9.12 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid | Glucosamine hydrochloride capsules | 12 weeks | TER, WOMAC, IL-1β, TNF-α, AE |
| Zheng CE, 2014 [27] | 40 | 40 | 11//29 | 9/31 | 60.8 ± 6.6 | 61.2 ± 5.8 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Glucosamine sulfate capsules | 1 months | TER, AE |
| Liu QY, 2016 [28] | 40 | 40 | 18/22 | 15/25 | 68.15 ± 7.8 | 65.28 ± 1.20 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid | Glucosamine hydrochloride capsules | 10 weeks | TER, WOMAC, IL-1β, TNF-α, AE |
| Wu B, 2017 [29] | 52 | 52 | 36/16 | 34/18 | 62.19 ± 7.20 | 62.24 ± 7.15 | ZQFTN 20 mg tid + CG | Meloxicam | 4 weeks | TER, IL-1β, TNF-α, AE |
| Wang CC, 2017 [30] | 45 | 45 | 16/29 | 18/27 | 49.59 ± 5.70 | 51.63 ± 5.12 | ZQFTN 120 mg bid + CG | Sodium hyaluronate injection | 10 weeks | VAS, TNF-α, AE |
| Luo HC, 2018 [31] | 60 | 60 | 21/39 | 25/35 | 61.28 ± 10.12 | 59.97 ± 11.03 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Diacerein capsules | 8 weeks | TER, VAS, WOMAC, AE |
| Luo HC, 2019 [32] | 49 | 49 | 13/36 | 14/35 | 57.49 ± 10.52 | 59.92 ± 10.89 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Glucosamine hydrochloride capsules | 12 weeks | TER, IL-1β, TNF-α, AE |
| Mi ZY, 2019 [33] | 50 | 50 | 22/28 | 19/31 | 62.7 ± 5.3 | 60.9 ± 5.0 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Diacerein capsules | 2 months | TER |
| Wang GL, 2019 [34] | 30 | 30 | 16/14 | 17/13 | 32.2 ± 8.4 | 40.5 ± 8.2 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid | Diacerein capsules | 8 weeks | TER |
| Zhang Q, 2019 [35] | 46 | 46 | 18/28 | 16/30 | 58.91 ± 5.63 | 58.72 ± 5.81 | ZQFTN 120 mg bid + CG | Diacerein capsules | 8 weeks | TER, VAS, AE |
| Zhang Y, 2019 [36] | 40 | 40 | 22/18 | 21/19 | 52.6 ± 2.5 | 52.7 ± 2.4 | ZQFTN 60 mg bid + CG | Sodium hyaluronate injection | 5 weeks | TER, AE |
| Yang J, 2021 [37] | 20 | 20 | 14//6 | 13//7 | 62.45 ± 4.25 | 62.50 ± 4.00 | ZQFTN 60 mg tid | Glucosamine hydrochloride capsules | 10 weeks | TER, AE |
| Yu Z, 2021 [38] | 41 | 41 | 23/18 | 24/17 | 60.78 ± 8.51 | 61.42 ± 8.23 | ZQFTN 120 mg bid | Diacerein capsules | 3 months | TER, VAS, AE |
EG: experimental group; CG: control group; -: not mentioned; ZQFTN: Zhengqing Fengtongning release tablets; TER: total effective rate; VAS: Visual Analog Scale; WOMAC: Western Ontario and Mc Master University Osteoarthritis Index; IL-1β: serum IL-1β level; TNF-α: serum TNF-α level; AE: adverse events.