A Bayesian Meta-Analysis on Randomized Controlled Trials of Integrated Chinese-Western Therapy for Cough Variant Asthma

Objective To evaluate the effect of integrated Chinese-western therapy for cough variant asthma（CVA）. Methods The Cochrane Library（Issue 2, 2011）, The MEDLINE（Ovid,1950-2011）, PubMed（1992-2011）,EMBASE （1966-2011）, SinoMed（1978.01 to 2011.02）, WANFANG database（1998-2011）, VIP（1989-2011）, CHKD（1994-2011） were searched, and relevant journals were searched by manual retrieval. Studies were selected and data were collected and the quality of included studies was assessed according to the principles of systematic reviews. Bayesian meta-analysis was performed using WinBUGS. Results 28 trials including 2 226 patients were identified. All of the trials were not adequate in methodological quality. Meta-analysis showed that the OR of having a better response on the experimental treatment than on the control was 2.936 95%CI（2.454,3.508）. Conclusion The results showed that the patients with CVA were benefited from integrated Chinese-western therapy, but more clinical trials of high methodological quality are needed to confirm this conclusion due to low quality of trials.