| Background: Pyrosis and regurgitation are the cardinal symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Several
herbs have been used for treating gastrointestinal disorders worldwide. This systematic review was conducted to
investigate the effects of medicinal herbs on gastroesophageal reflux disease and adverse events. Methods:
MEDLINE (via PubMed; The United States National Library of Medicine, USA), Scopus, ScienceDirect,
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database
were systematically searched for human studies, without a time frame, using medical subject heading terms such as
“gastroesophageal reflux disease”, “reflux”, “esophagitis” and “herbs”. Manual searches completed the electronic
searches. Results: Thirteen randomized controlled trials were identified, including 1,164 participants from 1,509
publications. In comparing herbal medicine to placebo, there were no significant differences in terms of heartburn
(P = 0.23 and 0.48), epigastric or abdominal pain (P = 0.35), reflux syndrome (P = 0.12), and effective rate (P =
0.60), but there was a significant difference in terms of acid regurgitation (P = 0.01). In comparing herbal medicine
to drugs, there was a significant difference in terms of effective rate (P = 0.001), and there was one trial that
reported a significant difference in terms of epigastric pain (P = 0.00001). Also, in comparing herbal medicine to
drugs, there were no significant differences in terms of acid regurgitation (P = 0.39). Conclusion: This
meta-analysis showed that herbal medicines are effective in treating gastroesophageal reflux disease. Further
standardized researches with a large-scale, multicenter, and rigorous design are needed. |