TABLE 1.
The PICOS of our study.
| PICOS terms | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | T2DM patients of all ages and genders were included in our study. The criteria is base on Chinese Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus or 1999 World Health Organization criteria. | |
| Interventions & Comparators | The Interventions group included the patients who were treated with berberine alone or in combination with other OHAs. The Comparators group included the patients who were treated with blank, placebo, lifestyle intervention or OHAs. In conclusion, only two situations fitted our purpose of exploring the effect of berberine, which are berberine vs. blank/placebo/lifestyle intervention and berberine combined with other OHAs vs. OHAs. If the study design didn’t include these two combinations, the study should be excluded. For example, | |
| 1) Study A: berberine vs. placebo, the ‘berberine’ group is considered as intervention group, the ‘placebo’ group is considered as comparator group; | ||
| 2) Study B: berberine + metformin vs. berberine vs. metformin, the ‘berberine + metformin’ group is considered as intervention group, the ‘metformin’ group is considered as comparator group; | ||
| 3) Study C: berberine vs. sulfonylureas, excluded; | ||
| 4) Study D: berberine + metformin vs. berberine, excluded. | ||
| Outcomes | Primary | Fasting Plasma Glucose (FPG). |
| Secondary | 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (2hPBG), Glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c), the incidence of total adverse events and hypoglycemia. | |
| Study design | The studies were included if they met the following criteria: | |
| 1) Met the criteria above in this table; | ||
| 2) Reported the baseline of FPG, 2hPBG or HbA1c and also reported them as an outcome indicator; | ||
| 3) Randomized controlled trials. | ||
| The exclusion criteria were: | ||
| 1) the exact means and standard deviations of FPG, 2hPBG, HbA1c before and after treatment were not reported completely in article; | ||
| 2) T2DM with other chronic diseases or diabetic complications; | ||
| 3) The animal experiments; | ||
| 4) Non-RCT experiments, conference articles, reviews and duplicate publications | ||