主题：针灸能够治好什么病？ -- 虽远必诛

Implications for practice

Based on this systematic review, some herbal medicines have beneficial

effects on blood glucose control in people with type 2 diabetes

mellitus. However, at the moment we cannot recommend

any of the examined herbs for clinical routine use, since the majority

of the trials had low methodological quality and the benefit

has not been confirmed by large trials of high-quality.

Implications for research

Trialsin comparing Chinese herbal medicine with established

hypoglycaemic drugs should be designed according to ’equivalence

principle’. It is also interesting to verify additional benefits

from herbal medicine combined with established hypoglycaemic

drugs versus hypoglycaemic drug monotherapy. Outcome measures

should include patient relevant outcome parameters. Standardised

monitoring and reporting should be used for assessment

of adverse events.

The methodological quality of randomised trials of herbal

medicines for type 2 diabetes needs to be improved. The following

aspects should be addressed: (i) detailed reporting of the methods

used to generate allocation sequence and allocation concealment;

(ii) sufficient application of double blinding with the use of adequate

placebo; (iii) clear descriptions of withdrawal/drop-out during

the trial and use of intention-to-treat analysis; (iv) reporting

of clinically important outcome measures from long-term followup;

and (v) reporting of the trial according to the CONSORT

statement (www.consort_statement.org).