Evidence mapPaperPMID 42500463Full record

ArticleIntegrative medicine research2026

Comparative effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine versus liraglutide for weight loss in adults with obesity: A 12-month real-world target trial emulation study.

Yu-Ning Liao, Tsung-Hsien Yang, Yi-Chin Lu, Liang-Wei Tseng, Ching-Wei Yang, Yu-Tung Huang, Hsing-Yu Chen

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Article in Integrative medicine research, 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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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

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No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yu-Ning LiaoDivision of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Tsung-Hsien YangDivision of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Yi-Chin LuDivision of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Liang-Wei TsengDivision of Chinese Acupuncture and Traumatology, Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Ching-Wei YangDivision of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Yu-Tung HuangGraduate Institute of Life Sciences, College of Biomedical Sciences, National Defense Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsing-Yu ChenDivision of Chinese Internal Medicine, Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is commonly used for weight control in Taiwan. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and mechanisms of a fixed combination of CHM with liraglutide using a target trial emulation real-world study. Methods: From January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2018, subjects from the multi-institutional Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² received a fixed combination of Ma-Xing-Gan-Shi-Tang and Results: Among 376 subjects, 135 (35.9%) used MCLOW, who lost more weight from baseline (-6.07 [95% CI:6.90 to -5.24] vs. -1.66 [95% CI:2.22 to -1.1] kg; p-value < 0.001), and had a higher proportion achieved weight reductions of ≥ 5% and ≥ 10% (68.15% vs. 23.65%, Conclusion: The CHM formula MCLOW appears to have promising effects on weight loss, with mechanisms differing from but complementary to those of Western medicines.

Indexed as

Chinese herbal medicineLiraglutideObesityReal-world cohortTarget trial emulation

Identifiers

PMID42500463
PMCPMC13398280

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.