Hou LY 2003.

Methods	Generation of allocation sequence: unstated. Blinding: not used. Sample size estimation: no information. Withdrawal/drop‐out: unstated.
Participants	Ethnic: Chinese; 96 patients (58 in herb group, M/F 39/19, mean age 49 years (44‐70), mean disease duration 7.8 years (2‐11). 38 in control group, M/F 25/13, mean age 52 years (47‐70), mean disease duration 8 years (2‐12)). Setting: inpatients. Inclusion criteria: type 2 diabetes diagnosed by WTO criteria (1998). Exclusion criteria: unstated.
Interventions	Experimental intervention: Xiaoke Fuzheng (mixture of more than 20 herbs) capsule, 4‐6 capsules, t.i.d., orally; plus glipizide or glibenclamide, for nine months. Control intervention: gliclazide, or glibenclamide, for nine months.
Outcomes	Symptoms and FBG. Outcomes were measured at end of treatment.
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	B ‐ Unclear