Effects of traditional Chinese medicine nursing combined with conventional nursing in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nursing combined with conventional nursing in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: Data were collected from the databases of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang Data (WF) and VIP Database, including literature regarding the effects of TCM nursing combined with conventional nursing in patients with COPD published before January 2017. The Jadad scale was used to assess the quality of the eligible literature. The weighted mean differences and odds ratios were used to analyze St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) scores, pulmonary function, hospital stay, and clinical efficacy. Results: Twenty-three randomized controlled trials comprising 3116 cases (TCM nursing combined with the conventional nursing group: 1559; conventional nursing group: 1557) met the inclusion criteria. TCM nursing combined with conventional nursing was associated with a lower SGRQ score, higher forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) value, higher FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) value, higher FEV1% value, higher FEV1 predicted value, shorter hospital stay, and preferable clinical efficacy. Conclusions: TCM nursing combined with conventional nursing emphasized that dialectical nursing can be performed preferably in patients with COPD.