ReviewFrontiers in medicine2026
Meta-analysis of spleen-strengthening and phlegm-resolving herbal therapy for airway mucus hypersecretion in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Review in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
Objective: To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine based on spleen-strengthening and phlegm-resolving (SSPR) therapy for airway mucus hypersecretion in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from an evidence-based medicine perspective, and to provide a scientific basis for TCM diagnosis and treatment of COPD-related mucus hypersecretion. Methods: This study was conducted following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. We systematically searched CNKI, Wanfang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for clinical studies published between January 1, 2010, and September 1, 2025, on SSPR-based herbal interventions for COPD mucus hypersecretion. Two researchers independently screened the studies according to predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria, extracted data, performed cross-checking, and assessed study quality. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4, with publication bias evaluated by Egger's test in Stata 18. Results: Sixteen studies involving 1,468 COPD patients with mucus hypersecretion were included. Meta-analysis showed that for acute exacerbation of COPD: SSPR combined with conventional Western therapy significantly improved Treatment effectiveness rate ( Conclusion: SSPR herbal therapy combined with conventional Western treatment demonstrates superior clinical efficacy for managing airway mucus hypersecretion in both acute exacerbation and stable COPD compared to Western therapy alone, with comparable safety profiles. However, the included studies were generally of low methodological quality, highlighting the need for larger, higher-quality RCTs for further validation. Systematic Review Registration: The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD420251171076).
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