Efficacy and safety of berberine for dyslipidaemias: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

• Published in: Phytomedicine (Stuttgart) 2018-11, Vol.50, p.25-34
• Main Authors: Ju, Jianqing, Li, Jingen, Lin, Qian, Xu, Hao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Berberine; Berberine - pharmacology; CAD; carotid atherosclerosis; CAS; Cholesterol, HDL - blood; Cholesterol, LDL - blood; coronary artery disease ITT, intention-to-treat; Dyslipidaemias; Dyslipidemias - drug therapy; HDL-C; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; Humans; IGT; impaired glucose tolerance; intention-to-treat; ITT; LDL-C; Lipid profile; lipid-lowering drugs; Lipids - blood; LLDs; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; Meta-analysis; Randomized controlled trial; randomized controlled trials; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; RCTs; Systematic review; T2DM; total cholesterol; triglycerides; Triglycerides - blood; type 2 diabetes mellitus
• ISSN: 0944-7113; 1618-095X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2018.09.212

In recent years, berberine has become widely used as an effective alternative to treat dyslipidaemias; much clinical evidence has emerged. It is important to systematically and critically evaluate the existing evidence. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of berberine in patients with dyslipidaemias. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Five electronic databases were searched up to Apr 15, 2018 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of berberine in treatment of dyslipidaemias. The outcomes were lipid profile parameters and adverse events. Study selection, data collection, risk of bias assessment, data analyses and interpretations were conducted according to the Cochrane handbook. Sixteen trials with total of 2147 participants were judged to be eligible and were included in the meta-analysis. The included trials were assessed to be of high clinical heterogeneity. The methodological quality of the majority of the trials was generally low in terms of random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding and incomplete outcome data. Thus, selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, attrition bias and confounding bias might exist. Meta-analysis showed that berberine significantly reduced levels of total cholesterol (TC) (MD = -0.47  mmol/l 95% CI [-0.64, -0.31], p