Effects and Tolerance of Silymarin (Milk Thistle) in Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 2

Baseline characteristics of study participants.

Study	Intervention group	Total patients	Mean age (years)	Male, (%)	HCV genotype (1/non-1/NA)	HCV RNA, mean ± SD/median (IQR)	ALT, mean ± SD/median (IQR) (U/L)	Albumin, g/L	Bilirubin, μmol/L	BMI (kg/m^2)
Tanamly et al.; 2004 [10]	Silymarin	69	NA	NA	NA	NA	14 (20.6)^a	NA	NA	NA
	Placebo	72	NA	NA	NA	NA	15 (21.1)^a	NA	NA	NA
Gordon et al.; 2006 [9]	Silymarin	24	43 ± 7	15 (62.5)	15/8/1	(4.7 ± 7.0) × 10^6 copies/mL	100 ± 51	39 ± 3	10 ± 3	27 ± 5
	Placebo	24	43 ± 7	15 (62.5)	15/8/1	(4.7 ± 7.0) × 10^6 copies/mL	100 ± 51	39 ± 3	10 ± 3	27 ± 5
Pár et al.; 2009 [8]	Silymarin	16	51.6 ± 6.3	8 (50)	16/0/0	641 ± 178 kIU/mL	141.3 ± 85.5	NA	NA	NA
	Placebo	16	46.8 ± 9.9	5 (31)	16/0/0	740 ± 227 kIU/mL	108.7 ± 52.7	NA	NA	NA
Fried et al.; 2012 [11]	Silymarin	102	54 (48–58)	79 (77.5)	95/7/0	6.1 (5.7–6.5)^b; 6.3 (5.8–6.6)^c	109.5 (83–158)^b; 104.5 (83.5–151)^c	41 (39–44)	0.8 (0.6–1.0)	28.5 (26–32.4)^b; 30.2 (28.1–32.9)^c
	Placebo	52	56 (51.5–59.5)	41 (78.9)	44/6/2	6.4 (5.9–6.7)	106 (83–136)	43 (39–45)	0.9 (0.6–1.1)	29.1 (26.5–32.7)
Mariño et al.; 2013 [12]	Silibinin	11	57.2 ± 9.3	6 (54.5)	9/2/0	(5.17 ± 0.76)	NA	NA	NA	NA
	Placebo	3	52 (41–62)	3 (100)	3/0/0	4.94 (4.46–5.95)	NA	NA	NA	NA

^aPresented by (%) of participants with ALT abnormal; ^bdata of participants receiving 420 mg per time three times a day; ^cdata of participants receiving 700 mg per time three times a day.