Effectiveness of different traditional Chinese medicine injections in patients with diabetic lower extremity arterial disease: A Bayesian network meta-analysis

Abstract

Background and purpose

Numerous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of Chinese medicine injections (CMIs) in treating diabetic lower extremity arterial disease (Dia-LEAD). However, with the variety of CMIs available, it has become challenging to determine the optimal choice for Dia-LEAD patients. This study aims to compare and rank the efficacy of CMIs for Dia-LEAD to provide references and evidence for clinicians in optimising drug selection.

Methods

We conducted a comprehensive search for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of CMIs for treating Dia-LEAD, which included the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, China Weipu Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science, covering inception to 15 October 2023. We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool 2.0 to assess bias risk, and RevMan 5.4.1, GeMTC, STATA 13.0, and R 4.2.1 for statistical analysis and visualization of the network meta-analysis.

Results

We analysed 38 studies with 12 CMIs. Compared with other interventions, Shuxuening injection (SXN) + conventional treatment (CT) was superior in terms of the total effective rate (surface under the cumulative ranking (SUCRA) 86.2 %). Danshen injection (DS) + CT ranked first in improving the ankle-brachial index (ABI) (SUCRA 95.1 %) and dorsalis pedis artery blood flow (DPABF) (SUCRA 88.8 %). Danhong injection (DH) + CT showed the highest probability of effectiveness in improving the plasma viscosity (SUCRA 91.6 %). Chuanxiongqin injection (CXQ) + CT yielded favourable results in regulating fibrinogen levels (SUCRA 77.1 %). Furthermore, no significant differences in adverse reactions were detected between the treatment and control groups.

Conclusion

The study demonstrated that CMIs have potential as a complementary therapy for treating Dia-LEAD, and it supports the positive effects of combining CMIs with CT on a number of outcome indicators. Especially when it comes to improving the haemodynamics indices and the haemorheology indices, DS in combination with CT may be a more effective intervention. However, further confirmation in more rigorous, high-quality, and multicentre RCTs is needed to strengthen the validity and generalisability of the results.