Chinese Medicine as an Alternative Treatment for Adults with Hypercholesterolemia: A Systematic Review

Authors

  • Tasfia Hussain Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18192/osurj.v4i1.7303

Abstract

Introduction: Understanding whether Chinese medicine is an effective treatment for hyperlipidemia could potentially open doors to finding new lipid-lowering drugs with fewer adverse effects. This systematic review attempts to combine the available research on Chinese medicine and hyperlipidemia.

Methods: Using keywords from the research question, 604 records were identified on the MEDLINE (Ovid) database. After assigning limits and screening articles based on the set criteria, the six remaining articles are read in full and narrative synthesis is done.

Results: The six chosen articles are appraised using the Jadad score, and all are included in the review to give critical insights into different Chinese herbs. Studies from 2676 human and rat subjects in clinical settings were analyzed, and only Palmiwon, Lingzhi, Xuezhikang, and Daming capsules showed some positive effects on hypercholesterolemia. However, this is inconclusive as individual studies were small and possessed biases in random allocation sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of participants, incomplete outcome data, and selective outcome reporting.

Discussion: This systematic review finds that some Chinese medicine has positive effects on treating hypercholesterolemia. However, there is not enough evidence to support their clinical use compared to HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (stains). This is likely due to the limited use of Chinese medicine in Western medicine, resulting in a lack of peer-reviewed research.

Conclusion: Some Chinese medicine has the potential to manage hypercholesterolemia in comparison with standard pharmacological treatment. However, further research is needed before establishing its clinical usage.

Published

2025-06-11

Issue

Section

Reviews