Pelargonium sidoides extract for treating acute respiratory tract infections

Abstract

P. sidoides may be effective in alleviating symptoms of acute rhinosinusitis and the common cold in adults, but doubt exists. It may be effective in relieving symptoms in acute bronchitis in adults and children, and sinusitis in adults. The overall quality of the evidence was considered low for main outcomes in acute bronchitis in children and adults, and very low for acute sinusitis and the common cold. Reliable data on treatment for other ARIs were not identified.

EPs 7630 in Acute Respiratory Tract Infections – A systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

“…Moreover, as the authors considered using the average symptom score change pre-specified in the original trial protocols as the primary outcome measure for describing the treatment effect not to be optimal in RTI, they performed a responder analysis during which they defined patients with symptoms not resolved at a pre-defined time to be responders. For the post-hoc redefined outcome measure, the main results of Timmer et al, 30 metaanalyses in AB confirm superiority of EPs 7630 over placebo although the treatment effects were somewhat smaller than in the analysis performed by Agbabiaka et al based on symptom score change. 28,29 For AB, Timmer et al, 30 also performed separate analyses for the liquid and the tablet formulations of EPs 7630 and concluded that the trials support the efficacy of EPs 7630 liquid formulation but not of the tablets.…”

“…To date, 2 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized, controlled clinical trials investigating the efficacy of Pelargonium sidoides extract in RTIs [28][29][30] as well as 2 further reviews without formal meta-analyses 17,42 have been published although, unlike our own work, none of them considered all therapeutic trials performed with EPs 7630: Agbabiaka and colleagues 28,29 performed a review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of EPs 7630 in AB into which studies no. 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 of our review were included.…”

“…The recently updated Cochrane review prepared by Timmer et al, 30 assessed the efficacy of EPs 7630 in acute RTIs and identified studies no. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 for AB, study no.…”

“…Timmer et al, 30 performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of EPs 7630 for acute RTIs in which 10 double-blind, randomized clinical trials were selected for inclusion. This work also shows that EPs 7630 is effective in patients with AB, however, all data of clinical trials in the indication ATP were not analyzed until now.…”

“…Heterogeneity between the primary trials was assessed using the I2 statistic. For comparability with the Cochrane Review on Pelargonium sidoides, 30 random effects models were computed in case of I2 > 5%, and fixed effect models were used otherwise. Review Manager (RevMan) Version 5.2 software 36 was used for all meta-analyses.…”