Flavonoids for Treating Viral Acute Respiratory Tract Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 30 Randomized Controlled Trials.
flavonoids
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
control
efficacy and safety in treating viral acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs)
Abstract
This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of flavonoids in treating viral acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs). Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were entered into meta-analyses performed separately for each indication. Efficacy analyses were based on changes in disease-specific symptom scores. Safety was analyzed based on the pooled data from all eligible trials, by comparing the incidence of adverse events between flavonoids and the control. In this study, thirty RCTs ( Results from this systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that flavonoids were efficacious and safe in treating viral ARTIs including the common cold, influenza, COVID-19, acute non-streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis, acute rhinosinusitis, acute bronchitis, bronchial pneumonia, and upper respiratory tract infections. However, uncertainty remains because there were few RCTs per type of ARTI and many of the RCTs were small and of low quality with a substantial risk of bias. Given the limitations, we suggest that the conclusions need to be confirmed on a larger scale with more detailed instructions in future studies.