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Guizhi-Shaoyao-Zhimu decoction (GSZD), a famous ancient oriental Chinese prescription, has been widely used for thousands of years to treat 'arthromyodynia'. The clinical studies of GSZD for the treatment of gout were systematically reviewed to evaluate its clinical efficacy and safety. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to GSZD and gout were collected starting from the database establishment until 29 February 2020, from the Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge, VIP and other databases. This systematic review and meta-analysis were performed in strict accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) statement, and all analysis of the test was completed using Stata (SE12.0) and Revman (5.3). A total of 535 studies were searched, and 13 studies were included in our meta-analysis (n = 1056 participants). Compared with the conventional western medicine treatments, GSZD treatment yielded a significantly increase in the number of clinically effective patients (OR = 3.67, 95%CI = 2.39–5.64, p = 0.57), an improved mean reduction in the level of uric acid (MD = −54.06; 95% CI = −69.95 to −38.17). Meanwhile, the levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were also significantly decreased after the GSZD treatment with no increased relative risk of side-effects. Our present works suggested that GSZD could be considered as an effective alternative remedy for clinical treatment of gout. In addition, it also provides a scientific basis for GSZD to be better applied in clinic in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guizhi-Shaoyao-Zhimu decoction (GSZD), a classic Chinese herbal formula, can reportedly ameliorate clinical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms without serious adverse effects. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials to assess the effect and safety of GSZD for treating RA. We systematically searched for such randomised controlled trials, which compared GSZD with common treatments for RA, in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge, the VIP database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Baidu Scholar, Google Scholar, and the Chinese Biomedical Database. The main index for evaluating the curative effects was the total clinical effective rate; the secondary indicators were sign changes (morning stiffness time, joint swelling index, joint tenderness index, swollen joint count) and laboratory indicators (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and rheumatoid factor). We retrieved a total of 708 studies and included 10 in our analysis (n = 792). Compared with conventional drugs, GSZD was more likely to achieve clinical efficacy (relative risk = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.12-1.26) and significantly improve the patient's physical signs. In addition, GSZD exhibited a likelihood of reducing the incidence of adverse events by 73% compared with the control (relative risk = 0.27; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.77). Altogether, we provide evidence that GSZD is an effective and safe drug for treating RA clinically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]