Efficacy and safety of Shenqi Dihuang decoction for lupus nephritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Lupus Nephritis (LN) is a serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the treatment of lupus nephritis using traditional Chinese medicine remains controversial. To assess the efficacy and safety of Shenqi Dihuang decoction in the treatment of LN and review the clinical guidelines. Six databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, PubMed, China Biology Medicine, the Cochrane Library, and Embase) were searched from their inception to September 10, 2022, for randomized controlled trials on the treatment of lupus nephritis using Shenqi Dihuang decoction. We conducted a meta-analysis of random effects using Review Manager 5.4 and assessed the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach. A total of 15,790 citations were identified, from which 14 eligible randomized controlled trials that enrolled 1002 participants were selected for this systematic review. Low-to-moderate certainty of evidence indicated that when compared with Western medicine, Shenqi Dihuang decoction combined with Western medicine was associated with favorable effects on clinical efficacy (risk ratio (RR) = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15–1.37), vascular endothelial growth factor (mean difference (MD) = −30.90, 95% CI: −40.18 to −21.63), serum level (MD = −4.81 μmol L−1, 95% CI: −17.14 to 7.53), complement C3 (MD = −0.14 g L−1, 95% CI: −0.23 to −0.04), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (MD = −11.87 mm h−1, 95% CI: −22.01 to −1.73), and SLE disease activity score (MD = −3.38, 95% CI: −4.15 to −2.61), and exhibited a lower risk of infection (RR = 0.2, 95% CI: 0.05–0.90), gastrointestinal reaction (RR = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.17–1.28), and insomnia (RR = 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09–0.92). This systematic review provides a potential reference for understanding the efficacy and safety of Shenqi Dihuang decoction combined with Western medicine for treating patients with lupus nephritis. However, owing to the limited quality of the studies included in this review, lack of mycophenolate mofetil control, and high heterogeneity among the included studies, the current findings should be interpreted with caution. Therefore, the efficacy and safety of Shenqi Dihuang decoction in patients with PN still require further verification through future high-quality clinical studies.