The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of dry eye symptom: a meta-analysis

Objective: This study aims to systematically review the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for treatment of dry eye symptom (DES). Methods: PubMed, EMbase, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, VIP, CNKI, CBM and Wanfang databases were searched manually and automatically by computer. The published literatures about DES treated by TCM were collected. After selection, quality evaluation and data extraction by two researchers, RevMan 5.2 was applied for Meta-analysis. Results: Totally 18 randomized controlled trials were included in this study based on our screening criteria. The meta-analysis results showed that TCM was better in improving ocular symptoms than control drugs, and the difference of total efficacy rate between TCM group and control group was statistically significant (OR = 3.66,95% CI [2.80, 4.78], P<0.00001). For increasing the amount of tear secretion, TCM was significantly superior to control (WMD = 1.58, 95% CI [1.01, 2.16], P<0.00001). The break-up time of tear film was extended in TCM group than in control group (WMD = 1.32, 95% CI [0.93, 1.71], P<0.00001). Conclusion: TCM treatment for DES can significantly improve ocular symptoms, increase the amount of tear secretion, and extend the break-up time of tear film, which indicates that the efficacy in TCM group is better than in control group. As the good quality of associated studies is lacking and the publication bias is existed, the conclusion in this study needs further validation by better designed clinical randomized controlled trails.