Xie CG 1996.

Methods	Generation of allocation sequence: unstated. Blinding: not used. Sample size estimation: no information. Withdrawal/drop‐out: unstated.
Participants	Ethnic: Chinese; 200 patients (M/F 115/85. 100 in treatment group, mean age 55 years, mean disease duration 7.4 years; 100 in control group, mean age 57 years, mean disease duration 6.4 years). Setting: inpatients. Inclusion criteria: type 2 diabetes mellitus, diagnosed by WHO criteria (WHO 1980), and classified into three syndromes by a diagnostic criteria of Chinese Medicine: Yin deficiency and heat excess, deficiency of Qi‐Yin, and deficiency of Yin‐Yang. Exclusion criteria: unstated.
Interventions	Experimental intervention: Tangfu Kang (mixture of more than 7 herbs) condensed pills, 6 g for mild, 8 g for mediate, 10 g for severe patients, t.i.d., orally; for two months. Control intervention: gliclazide, 80 mg orally, b.i.d., for mild; 80 mg orally, t.i.d., for mediate, 160 mg, b.i.d., for severe patients; all for two months. All patients received same dietary therapy during trial.
Outcomes	Symptoms, FBG, PBG, HbA1c, FINS, and adverse effects. No follow‐up was reported.
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment?	Unclear risk	B ‐ Unclear