The Role of Acupoint Application of Herbal Medicine for Asthma: Meta-Analysis of Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trials

Table 6

Summary of GRADE evidence: comparison of short-term efficacy between AAHM and placebo

Outcomes	Number of participants (number of studies)	Quality of evidence (GRADE)	Absolute effect
			Control group (mean)	Comparison between groups（95% CI）
FEV1 (%)	238 (2 RCTs)	⊕○○○ Very low 1,2,3	78.55%	No statistical significance
FEV1 (L)	107 (1 RCT)	⊕⊕○○ Low 3,4	1.46 L	↑ 0.66 (0.59, 0.73)
FEV1/FVC	238 (2 RCTs)	⊕○○○ Very low 1,2,3	71.07%	No statistical significance
FAE	143 (1 RCT)	⊕⊕⊕○ Moderate 3	2.74 times	↓ –1.29 (–1.66, –0.93)
AQLQ	238 (2 RCT)	⊕⊕⊕○ Moderate 3	107.58 points	↑ 6.57 (3.76, 9.38)
Total IgE	120 (1 RCT)	⊕⊕○○ Low 3,4	208.50 IU/ml	↓ –104.40 (–113.14, –95.66)
EOS	66 (1 RCT)	⊕⊕○○ Low 2,3	0.31 × 109/L	No statistical significance

Abbreviations: AQLQ: asthma quality of life questionnaire, FAE: frequency of acute exacerbations, IgE: immunoglobulin E, EOS: eosinophil, FEV₁: forced expiratory volume in 1 second, and FVC: forced vital capacity. 1. Considerable statistical heterogeneity, 2. the credible interval contains invalid values and wide interval limits the accuracy of the results, 3. insufficient sample size limits the accuracy of the results, and 4. unclear sequence generation.