Traditional Chinese medicine for type 2 diabetes with metabolic-associated steatotic liver disease: unified effects and design thresholds - PubMed

5 hours ago

Study reorganizes RCTs of TCM for T2DM and MASLD into a clinical evidence-anchored knowledge graph.
Effect direction and scale were unified with TE >0 indicating improvement.
Primary endpoints included ALT, TG, HOMA-IR, and CAP; AST was retained for robustness.
95 trials were included (n=8,813), predominantly add-on, with follow-up from 2-48 weeks.
Pooled effects for ALT, AST, HOMA-IR, and TG were directionally favorable but with substantial heterogeneity.
CAP showed a more reproducible short-term imaging signal than LSM.
Meta-regression suggested improved estimate stability with larger sample sizes (≥40-50) and longer follow-up (≥12-16 weeks).
RoB 2 ratings were mostly 'some concerns'; GRADE certainty was downgraded for inconsistency/imprecision.
Conclusion: Add-on trials show favorable biochemical/metabolic changes, but uncertainty remains substantial.

Hasty Briefsbeta