# Efficacy and safety of common Chinese herbal medicines in treating psoriasis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

## TL;DR

This study reviews and analyzes the effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal medicines in treating different types of psoriasis.

## Contribution

The study provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of Chinese herbal medicines for psoriasis, highlighting their efficacy across different subtypes.

## Key findings

- TCM herbal formulas improved treatment efficiency for various psoriasis types.
- Herbal medicines were particularly effective for arthropathic and pustular psoriasis.
- Blood cooling and detoxification formula was the most commonly used treatment.

## Abstract

Psoriasis is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease with a high incidence, imposing a substantial global disease burden. As a low-cost complementary and alternative therapy, traditional Chinese herbal formulations have been widely used in clinical practice in China for the treatment of psoriasis. However, systematic analyses of their application value based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome patterns or treatment outcomes remain relatively limited.

We aim to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of common traditional Chinese herbs in the treatment of patients with psoriasis.

We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, SciFinder, WanFang Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The literature meeting the predefined inclusion criteria was subjected to a secondary screening process. Meta-analysis was subsequently conducted using Review Manager software (version 5.4.1).

A total of 47 papers involving 3,675 patients were included in the study. All TCM (herbal formula) groups showed positive effects in enhancing the treatment efficiency of different types of psoriasis. In particular, herbal medicines had a more considerable role in managing arthropathic psoriasis compared to other types of psoriasis. In terms of reducing Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores, TCM formula treatment showed marked benefits in pustular psoriasis. As for the improvement in TCM symptom indicators, patients with erythrodermic psoriasis (EP) showed better efficacy. For psoriasis accompanied by blood dryness, herbal medicines were more effective in reducing Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores.

The results indicate that TCM formulations included in this review are beneficial for reducing PASI scores, DLQI scores, and TCM symptom scores among patients with different types of psoriasis. The most commonly used herbal formula was Blood cooling and detoxification formula, followed by Taohong Siwu decoction and Blood nourishing and detoxifying formula. Nevertheless, more rigorously designed studies on herbal medicines are warranted to enhance the overall quality of research in this field going forward.