Efficacy and safety of recombinant interferon α-2b in the treatment of herpangina in infants:a network Meta-analysis

LIU Shiqi; CHEN Li; YAO Junli; GOU Xiaojun

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2025.03.020

Abstract：Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of recombinant interferon α-2b in the treatment of child-hood herpangina through a network meta-analysis system.Methods Computerized literature searches were conducted in CBM,CNKI,Wanfang,VIP,Duxiu,Ovid,Cochrane Library,Embase,PubMed,and Web of Science databases.Included studies were randomized controlled trials of recombinant interferon α-2b for treating herpangina in children(≤7 years old),with a retrieval period from database construction to February 27,2024.Two independent researchers ad-hered to inclusion and exclusion criteria,and we employed an improved Jadad scoring tool and the Cochrane bias risk as-sessment tool to screen and extract literature,as well as to evaluate study quality.Outcome indicators included clinical total efficacy rates,time to reduce fever,time for vesicle disappearance,time to resume feeding,hospitalization time,and incidence of adverse reactions.The Stata16.0 software was utilized to conduct network Meta-analysis on the screened studies.Results Twenty-four studies involving 3,078 cases of herpangina in children were ultimately includ-ed.The intervention measures in the control group included ribavirin,conventional therapy,xiyanping,kaihoujian,and reduning.Network Meta-analysis revealed that compared with different intervention measures in the control group,recombinant interferon α-2b in the experimental group could improve clinical total efficacy rates,shorten fever time,ves-icle disappearance time,time to resume feeding,and hospitalization time,without increasing the incidence of adverse reactions.Conclusion Compared with the other treatment schemes,the use of recombinant interferon α-2b for the treat-ment of childhood herpangina demonstrated significant efficacy and higher safety.