An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Shenmai Injection for Healthcare

Table 1

Study characteristics of included systematic reviews.

First author (year)	Condition	No. of primary studies	Quality of primary studies	Overall conclusion^+	Meta-analysis	Quality of review (OQAQ)*	Result^+ +/−
Zhang (2010) [9]	Viral myocarditis among children	15 (1018)	Poor	…may have some effect…	The total effective rate: SMI plus RT versus RT (6RCTs): RR 1.16, 95% CI (1.07, 1.25); SMI plus RT versus western medicine plus RT (5RCTs): RR 1.12, 95% CI (1.01, 1.25); SMI plus western medicine versus western medicine versus RT (4RCTs): RR 1.26, 95% CI (1.12, 1.42)	5	+
Li (2011) [24]	Viral myocarditis	10 (649)	Poor	…tend to be effective…	SMI plus routine therapy (RT) versus RT: The total effective rate: OR = 4.38, 95% CI (2.59, 7.38), 𝑃<0.00001; The remarkable response rate: OR = 2.67, 95% CI (1.93, 3.71), 𝑃<0.00001	3	+
Jin (2011) [10]	Viral myocarditis among children	7 (416)	Poor	…effective on…	SMI plus RT versus RT: RR = 1.25, 95% CI (1.15, 1.36), 𝑃=0.000	2	+
Shi (2012) [16]	Viral myocarditis	12 (731)	Poor	…can increase the clinical efficacy…	SMI plus RT versus RT: The total effective rate: RR = 1.22, 95% CI (1.14, 1.30), 𝑃<0.00001	1	+
Huang (2009) [23]	AMI	7 (901)	Poor (C grade)	…can decrease the mortality rate obviously…	SMI plus RT versus RT: the fatality rate during hospitalization: RR = 0.55, 95% CI (0.33, 0.90), 𝑃=0.02	4	++
Zeng (2010) [21]	AMI	13 (1707)	Poor (C grade)	…can significantly decrease the mortality rate …	SMI plus RT versus RT: The mortality rate: RR = 0.55, 95% CI (0.39, 0.76), 𝑃=0.0003	5	++
Hu (2012) [14]	AMI	15 (1806)	Poor	…can decrease the mortality rate …	SMI plus RT versus RT: the fatality rate during hospitalization: OR = 0.43, 95% CI (0.31, 0.60), 𝑃<0.00001	5	+
Li (2006) [11]	Acute cerebral infarction	6 (477)	Poor	…have positive effects on…	SMI versus blank control: the total effective rate: RR = 1.20, 99% CI (1.09, 1.33), 𝑃<0.00001	3	+
Shu (2008) [18]	Acute cerebral infarction	6 (563)	Mostly poor	…has a better effect on…	SMI versus compound salvia miltiorrhiza injection; (CSMI): the total effective rate: OR = 4.73, 95% CI (2.61, 8.56), 𝑃<0.01	2	++
Ma (2010) [12]	Acute cerebral infarction	9 (645)	Poor	…have positive effects on…	SMI plus RT versus RT: the total effective rate: RR = 1.21, 99% CI (1.10, 1.33), 𝑃<0.00001	3	+
Liu (2005) [19]	An adjunct therapy to tumor chemotherapy	13 (1040)	Poor	…may have positive effects on…	SMI plus tumor chemotherapy versus tumor chemotherapy: the total effective rate: OR = 1.73,; 95% CI (1.27, 2.34), 𝑃=0.0004	4	+
Zhang (2010) [17]	An adjunct treatment of patients with NSCLC	7 (510)	Mostly good	…have positive effects on… (disease control rate and the occurrence of the gastrointestinal tract symptoms)	SMI plus tumor chemotherapy versus tumor chemotherapy: the total efficiency rate: OR = 1.45,; 95% CI (1.01, 2.07), 𝑃<0.05; the disease control rate: OR = 2.31, 95% CI (1.42, 3.73), 𝑃<0.05; the occurrence of the gastrointestinal tract symptoms: OR = 0.37, 95% CI (0.26, 0.54), 𝑃<0.05	5	+
Cui (2010) [22]	Coronary heart disease	7 (510)	Poor	…have positive effects on…	SMI plus RT versus RT Danshen injection plus RT: the total effective rate: OR = 6.71, 95% CI (2.53, 17.77), 𝑃=0.001	4	+
Wang (2011) [15]	Coronary heart disease	21 (2219)	Mostly poor (4 B grade and 17 C grade)	…effective on… obviously	SMI plus RT versus RT: the total effective rate: OR = 3.43, 95% CI (2.73, 4.30), 𝑃<0.01	3	++
Li (2012) [25]	Coronary heart disease	18 (1986)	Mostly Poor (2 articles 3 points and remaining 2 points)	…have positive effects on…	SMI plus RT versus RT: The total effective rate: RR = 1.31, 95% CI (1.20, 1.43), 𝑃<0.0001; the ECG efficacy: RR = 1.46, 95% CI (1.32, 1.62), 𝑃<0.0001; the improvement rate of NYHA: RR = 1.79, 95% CI (1.28, 2.51), 𝑃=0.0006	2	+
Hou (2010) [8]	Heart Failure	15 (1174)	Mostly poor	…improve the therapeutic effect on…	SMI plus RT versus RT: the total effective rate: RR = 1.27, 95% CI (1.19, 1.35), 𝑃<0.00001	5	+
Li (2011) [24]	Chronic pulmonary heart disease	33 (2617)	Poor	Potential effectiveness	SMI plus conventional medicine versus conventional medicine: the improvement in New York Heart Association classification of clinical status: OR = 0.24, 95% CI (0.19, 0.30), 𝑃<0.00001	5	+
Liu (2012) [13]	Dilated cardiomyopathy	9 (688)	Poor (C grade)	…improve the therapeutic effect on…	SMI plus RT versus RT: the total effective rate: RR = 1.23, 95% CI (1.13, 1.33), 𝑃<0.00001	3	+

Note: (OQAQ)^∗ refers to the overall score of OQAQ which is from 1 to 7. OQAQ ≤ 3, extensive or major flaws; OQAQ ≥ 5, minor or minimal flaws. Conclusion +: As judged by the authors of the respective SRs. Result+: +, overall positive; −: fail to show effectiveness; ±, unclear.