The Effects of Aspirin With Combined Compound Danshen Dropping Pills on Hemorheology and Blood Lipids in Middle-Aged and Elderly Patients With CHD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Liu Zhi , Li Gang , Ma Yunwei , Lin Ling 
Published: June 2021

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common diseases in clinical cardiovascular practice, mainly afflicting the middle-aged and elderly. It will greatly affect elderly quality of life, and even affect their psychological and physical health. At present, CHD is treated with western drugs alone, but this can produce drug dependency. In recent years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) combine western drugs has been used as a complementary and alternative therapy, and its effectiveness and safety have been proven, attracting the attention of numerous researchers.

Objective: Our study aimed to compare the efficacy of Aspirin with Combined Compound Danshen Dropping Pills had a superior effect on the treatment of Hemorheology and Blood Lipids in Middle-aged and Elderly Patients with CHD. Determine the effectiveness and safety of Aspirin with Combined Compound Danshen Dropping Pills in the treatment of CHD, and obtain high quality clinical evidence.

Methods: Based on the PRISMA Statement, inclusion and exclusion criteria were formulated. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the Effects of Aspirin with Combined Compound Danshen Dropping Pills on Hemorheology and Blood Lipids in Middle-aged and Elderly Patients with CHD were found following a search of 4 mainstream medical databases. RCTs found to meet the study's requirement were included; data information was then extracted, and the quality assessed using the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. Through RevMan software, Meta analysis was carried out for overall TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C hematocrit, high shear viscosity, low shear viscosity, plasma viscosity, PAGM, and TXB2 effective rate. The relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated; heterogeneity was tested and its source found; publication bias was assessed through the Egger and Begg tests, and by means of funnel plots.

Result: 22 RCTs were found, involving 1,987 cases. The results of the Meta analysis showed that, compared to drug therapy alone, Aspirin with Combined Compound Danshen Dropping Pills had a superior effect on the treatment of Hemorheology and Blood Lipids in Middle-aged and Elderly Patients with CHD. The meta analysis results show the effects on TC [MD = −0.91, 95% CI (−1.09, −0.73)], on TG [MD = −0.94, 95% CI (−1.22, −0.66)], on HDL-C [MD = 0.40, 95% CI (0.27, 0.53)], on LDL-C [MD = −0.99, 95% CI (−1.24, −0.74)], on hematocrit [MD = −2.69, 95% CI (−3.73, −1.65)], on high shear blood viscosity [MD = −1.11, 95% CI (−2.18, −0.05)], on low shear viscosity [MD = −0.79, 95% CI (−0.89, −0.68)], on plasma viscosity [MD = −0.26, 95% CI (−0.52, 0.01)], on PAMG [MD = −10.75, 95% CI (−16.84, −4.67)], and on TXB2 [MD = −11.84, 95% CI (−14.75, −8.92)]. The source of heterogeneity might be related to the state of patient, efficacy of drugs in the control group and difference in judgment criteria for efficacy. The Egger test and Begg test showed that publication bias did not occur in our study.

Conclusions: The combination of compound dropping pill DSP with aspirin has some therapeutic effect on blood lipids and hemorheology in patients with CHD, ince some of the RCTs featured a very small sample size, the reliability and validity of our study's conclusion may have been affected as well; therefore, the explanation should be treated with some caution. In the future, a large number of higher-quality RCTs are still needed to confirm the results of our study.