Systematic review of Chinese herbal medicine for functional constipation

Table 1 Search strategy for Ovid SP (advanced Ovid search)

No.	Searches
1	case*.m_titl
2	clinical observation.mp
3	clinical trial.mp
4	clinical study.mp
5	efficacy.mp
6	effectiveness.mp
7	1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5 OR 6
8	random.mp
9	randomi*ed.mp
10	randomi*zation.mp
11	8 OR 9 OR 10
12	functional constipation.mp
13	irritable bowel syndrome.m_titl
14	ibs.m_titl
15	13 OR 14
16	12 NOT 15
17	rome.mp
18	16 AND 17
19	Chinese medicine*.mp
20	herbal medicine*.mp
21	herb*.mp.
22	Chinese adj10 oriental medicine*.mp
23	19 OR 20 OR 21 OR 22
24	7 AND 11 AND 18 AND 23

"*"was used for truncation.

Table 2 Common search strategy for VIP, TCM Database System and CJN

Title contains “case (Li)” OR Title/Abstract/Keyword contains [“efficacy observation (LiaoXiao GuanCha)” OR “efficacy comparison (LiaoXiao BiJiao)” OR “efficacy analysis (LiaoXiao FenXi)” OR “clinical observation (LinChuang GuanCha)” OR “clinical research (LinChuang YanJiu)” OR “clinical trial (LinChuang ShiYan)”]

AND

Text word contains “random (SuiJi)”

AND

Title/Abstract/Keyword contains “functional constipation (GongNengXing BianMi)” NOT Title contains [“irritable bowel syndrome (ChangYiJi ZongHeZheng)” OR “ibs”]

AND

Text word contains [“rome (LuoMa)” OR “rome”]

AND

Text word contains [“Chinese medicine (ZhongYao/ZhongYiYao)” OR “herbs (CaoYao)” OR Chinese herbal medicine (ZhongCaoYao) OR “Chinese proprietary medicine (ZhongChengYao)”]

TCM: Traditional Chinese medicine; CJN: China Journal Net.

Table 3 Details of CHM interventions in the included studies

Intervention	Preparation form	n
LiuWei Auxiliary	Capsule	4
LiuWeiAnXiao Capsule/ LiuWeiNengXiao Capsule
MaRen Auxiliary		7
MaRen Pill/MaZiRen Pill	Pill	2
MaRenRunChang Wan	Pill	1
Modified MaRenRunChang Wan	Pill	1
MaRen Capsule	Capsule	1
MaRen Soft Capsule	Capsule	2
RunChangTongBianNongSuo Pill	Pill	2
Others (in single investigation)	Decoction (w/o modification)	16
	Decoction (w/modification)	4
	Capsule	4
	Pill	3
	Solution	1
	Granule	1

CHM: Chinese herbal medicine.