Clinical Effects of Thai Herbal Compress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 4

The overall effects of herbal compress.

Comparator	Study	Mean difference 95% confidence interval	value	Heterogeneity test			, %
					df	value
Knee OA—level of pain (various measures)
NSAIDs	Chiranthanut et al., 2014 [11]	0.222 [−0.400, 0.844]
NSAIDs	Phromjuang, 2010 [15]	0.483 [−0.146, 1.112]
NSAIDs	Pooled effects (2 studies) [11, 15]	0.351 [−0.091, 0.793]^‡	0.120	0.33	1	0.563	0.0
Knee exercise	Lekutai et al., 2008 [14]	1.430 [0.768–2.092]
Knee exercise	Sukonthasarn, 2004 [18]	−0.100 [−0.720, 0.520]
Knee exercise	Pooled effects (2 studies) [14, 18]	0.660 [−0.839, 2.160]	0.388	10.92	1	0.001	90.8
Hot compress	Lekutai et al., 2008 [14]	0.207 [−0.301, 0.714]
Hot compress	Suwan, 2000 [19]	0.350 [−0.371, 1.072]
Hot compress	Pooled effects (2 studies ) [14, 19]	0.254 [−0.161, 0.669]^‡	0.230	0.10	1	0.750	0.0
Combined comparators	Pooled effects (5 studies) [11, 14, 15, 18, 19]	0.419 [−0.004, 0.842]^‡	0.052	9.58	4	0.048	58.3
Knee OA—difficulty in performing activities (various measures)
NSAIDs	Chiranthanut et al., 2014 [11]	0.544 [−0.088, 1.176]
Knee exercise	Lekutai et al., 2008 [14]	0.230 [−0.805, 1.265]
Knee exercise	Sukonthasarn, 2004 [18]	−0.450 [−1.893, 0.993]
Knee exercise	Pooled effects (2 studies) [14, 18]	−0.001 [−0.842, 0.840]	0.998	0.56	1	0.453	0.0
Hot compress	Lekutai, 2008 [14]	−0.059 [−0.565, 0.447]
Hot compress	Suwan, 2000 [19]	0.610 [−0.123, 1.343]
Hot compress	Pooled effects (2 studies) [14, 19]	0.221 [−0.426, 0.868]^‡	0.504	2.17	1	0.141	53.9
Combined comparators	Pooled effects (4 studies) [11, 14, 18, 19]	0.224 [−0.128, 0.577]^‡	0.213	4.48	3	0.242	28.3
Muscle pain—level of pain (VAS of pain, score range 0–10)
NSAIDs	Sathianrat et al., 2003 [17]	0.300 [−0.539, 1.139]
Hot compress	Puengsuwan et al., 2009 [16]	−0.280 [−1.613, 1.053]
Hot compress	Sathianrat et al., 2003 [17]	1.130 [0.300, 1.960]
Hot compress	Pooled effects (2 studies) [16, 17]	0.525 [−0.842, 1.893]	0.452	3.10	1	0.078	67.7
Combined comparators	Pooled effects (2 studies) [16, 17]	0.135 [−0.574, 0.845]	0.708	0.52	1	0.470	0.0
Induce lactation (duration from delivery to milk secretion, minutes)
Routine program	Listisit and Pakdeechot, 2009 [20]	−318.500 [−501.015, −35.985]
Routine program	Pakdeechot et al., 2010 [21]	−528.240 [−903.301, −153.179]
Routine program	Pooled effects (2 studies) [20, 21]	−394.425 [−620.084, −168.766]	0.001	0.77	1	0.381	0.0

Analyzed by weighted mean difference unless stated otherwise; ^‡analyzed by standardized mean difference; were selected for combined comparators analysis (for studies that had two comparator groups).