External Use of Propolis for Oral, Skin, and Genital Diseases: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of the included RCTs for oral diseases.

First author, year	Location of propolis production, chemical composition of propolis	Used form of propolis, amount used	Patient’s disease, sample size (randomized/analysed)	Experimental group (intervention, regimen)	Control group (intervention, regimen)	Outcome measures	Main results	AE
Ali, 2011 [19]	UAE, n.r.	Paste, n.r.	Recurrent oral aphthae, 120/114	(A) PP (containing olive oil), , 2 times per day until healing	(B) PP (containing sesame oil), , 2 times per day until healing; (C) Placebo paste, , 2 times per day until healing	(1) TER for pain disappearance; (2) Duration of treatment for ulcer; (3) Lesion size; (4) Duration of drug adherence to mucous membrane	(1) , significantly better than (C); (2) , significantly better than (C); (3) (A) better than (B), (C) but NS; (4) Most patients were approximately 20–30 minutes	n.r.
Atanasovska, 2014 [20]	Macedonia, I 62.5% + B 55% + TP 24.2% + TFF 8% + TFD 49%	Spray, n.r.	Recurrent oral aphthae, 20/20	(A) PS (Proaftol), , 24–32 sessions (3-4 times per day for 8 days)	(B) Placebo spray, , 24–32 sessions (3-4 times per day for 8 days)	(1) Lesion size; (2) Severity of pain	(1) On day 3, ; on day 5, ; on day 8,; (2) On day 3, ; on day 5,; on day 8,	n.r.
Capistrano, 2013 [21]	n.r., n.r.	Gel, 1 session 5 mL	Candidal stomatitis, 45/45	(A) PG, , 64 sessions (4 times per day for 14 days)	(B) Mouthrinse (containing propolis), , 64 sessions (4 times per day for 14 days); (C) Miconazole, , 64 sessions (4 times per day for 14 days)	(1) CFU; (2) Newton’s classification	(1) Significant difference in , , but NS in each group; (2) Significant difference in , , but NS in each group	n.r.
Chen, 2009 [22]	n.r., n.r.	Extract, n.r.	Recurrent oral aphthae, 76/76	(A) PE, , 14 sessions (2 times per day for 7 days)	(B) Placebo (oral antiseptics), , 14 sessions (2 times per day for 7 days)	(1) TER for ROA; (2) TER for pain disappearance	(1); (2)	n.r.
Piredda, 2015 [23]	n.r., n.r.	Extract, 1 session 8–10 mg	Oral mucositis, 60/60	(A) PE + mouthrinse, , 15 sessions (1 time per day for 15 days)	(B) Mouthrinse, , 15 sessions (1 time per day for 15 days)	(1) NCI-CTCAE version 4.0	(1)	Manifested suspected skin reaction; (2 in group (A))

; ; 1.
AE: adverse events; B: balm (extract with 70% ethanol); CFU: colony forming units; I: inhibitor against Staphylococcus aureus; NCI-CTCAE: National Cancer Institute-Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events; n.r.: not reported; NS: no significant difference between groups; PE: propolis extract; PG: propolis gel; positive: (A) significantly better than (B); PP: propolis paste; PS: propolis spray; ROA: recurrent oral aphthae; TER: total effective rate; TFD: total flavonones and dihydroflavonols; TFF: total flavones and flavonol; TP: total phenols.