Astragalus in the Prevention of Upper Respiratory Tract Infection in Children with Nephrotic Syndrome: Evidence-Based Clinical Practice

Table 2

Characteristics of the included studies.

	Study design	Population	Intervention	Comparison	Duration	Outcome	Followup	Adverse reaction
Kang, 2005 [17]	Parallel RCT 𝑁=38	Age; I: 1.5 to 6 y; C: 1.8 to 7 y	STD prednisone + Huangqi (Astragalus) granules; Dose: 15 g b.i.d.p.o.			Infection; (I: 14/22, C: 15/16)
				STD prednisone	3 to 6 months	URTI; (I: 8/22, C: 9/16)	Not mentioned	NS
						Relapse; (I: 10/22, C: 13/16)
J. Chen and S. Q. Chen, 2008 [18]	Parallel RCT 𝑁=92	Age; I: 2.0 to 13.2 y; C: 2.1 to 13.7 y	STD prednisone + Huangqi (Astragalus) granules (oral); Dose: 7.5 g bid (<3 years); 10 g bid (3 to 6 years); 15 g bid (>6 years)			Infection; (I: 14/45, C: 28/47)
				STD prednisone	3 months	URTI; (I: 8/45, C: 18/47)	8 months	NS
						Relapse; (I: 9/45, C: 23/47)

STD prednisone: initial dose 1 mg/kg/d for 8–12 weeks. Every other day for 6 months. When urine protein is negative, decreased 5 mg/wk until reduced dose tapered gradually to 0.4 mg/kg/d over 6 months and maintained at this dose for 12–18 months. Finally, tapered gradually until withdrawal to 0.5 mg/kg/d, then 1 mg/kg every other day for 6 months.
STD prednisone + CTX: initial prednisone dose 1 mg/kg/d plus CTX 50 mg b.i.d.p.o. (total in 8 mg).
URTI: upper respiratory tubular infection; I: intervention; C: comparision.