Efficacy and safety of Gegen Qinlian decoction in the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

AimThe study aims to systematically assess the efficacy and safety of Gegen Qinlian decoction in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.MethodsWe systematically searched a total of nine databases from the time of creation to 20 March 2023. The quality of the literature was assessed using the risk of bias assessment tool in the Cochrane Handbook. RevMan 5. 3 and Stata 14.0 were applied to conduct meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 17 studies, encompassing 1,476 patients, were included in the study. Gegen Qinlian decoction combined with conventional treatment was found to significantly reduce FBG (MD = −0.69 mmol/L, 95% CI −0.84 to −0.55, p < 0.01; I2 = 67%, p