Comparative effectiveness and safety of traditional Chinese medicine supporting Qi and enriching blood for cancer related anemia in patients not receiving chemoradiotherapy: a meta-analysis and systematic review

Zhibo Dang,1,2,* Xiaoli Liu,1,* Xinhui Wang,1 Mengge Li,1,2 Yuyong Jiang,1 Xianbo Wang,1 Zhiyun Yang1 1Center of Integrative Medicine, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100015, People’s Republic of China; 2First Clinical Medical College, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Abstract: A systematic review and meta-analysis of previous randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) supporting Qi and enriching blood in the treatment of cancer related anemia (CRA) in patients not receiving chemoradiotherapy were conducted. A total of 13 randomized controlled trials were included. Compared with the control group, better improvement was found for the level of hemoglobin (mean difference=4.57, 95% CI [1.38, 7.76], P=0.005) and overall therapeutic effect (risk ratio [RR]=1.31, 95% CI [1.18, 1.46], P