Meta-analysis of the clinical efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine compound for strengthening the spleen and eliminating dampness combined with Western medicine in the treatment of obese type 2 diabetes

Xiong Wei; Zhang Haoling; Zhang Yan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1671-6450.2026.01.016

Abstract：Objective To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions for strengthening the spleen and eliminating dampness combined with Western medicine in the treat-ment of obese type 2 diabetes,and to provide evidence-based evidence for clinical application.Methods Databases such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),Wanfang,VIP,CBM,and PubMed were searched to include randomized controlled trials(RCTs)comparing the combination of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions for strengthening the spleen and eliminating dampness with Western medicine(experimental group)versus Western medicine alone(control group)in the treatment of obese type 2 diabetes.The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of the litera-ture.Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4 software.Effect sizes included odds ratio(OR),mean difference(MD),and 95％confidence interval(CI).Heterogeneity and publication bias were analyzed.Results A total of 26 Chinese-language articles(2523 patients)were included.Meta-analysis showed that the clinical efficacy of the experimental group was signifi-cantly better than that of the control group(OR=4.87,95％CI:3.60-6.60,P＜0.001).After treatment,the experimental group showed significantly lower levels of fasting plasma glucose(MD=-0.89,95％CI:-1.18 to-0.60,P＜0.001),2-hour postpran-dial glucose(MD=-0.99,95％CI:-1.45 to-0.52,P＜0.001),total cholesterol(TC)(MD=-0.57,95％CI:-0.75 to-0.38,P＜0.001),triglycerides(TG)(MD=-0.33,95％CI:-0.59 to-0.17,P＜0.001),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)(MD=-0.38,95％CI:-0.52 to-0.24,P＜0.001),body mass index(BMI)(MD=-1.15,95％CI:-1.50 to-0.81,P＜0.001),waist-to-hip ratio(WHR)(MD=-0.07,95％CI:-0.12 to-0.01,P=0.03),and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resist-ance(HOMA-IR)(MD=-1.38,95％CI.-1.65 to-1.11,P＜0.001).The homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function(HOMA-β)was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group(MD=8.53,95％CI:2.47-14.57,P=0.006).In terms of safety,there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups(P＞0.05).Conclusion The combination of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions for strengthening the spleen and eliminating dampness with Western medicine is superior to Western medicine alone in improving clinical efficacy,glycolipid metabolism,obesity-related indicators,and pancreatic β-cell function in patients with obese type 2 diabetes,with good safety.Affected by the quality and heterogeneity of the included studies,more high-quality RCTs are needed for further verification.