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IgA vasculitis nephritis is a leading cause of secondary kidney disease in children and can result in long-term damage to kidney function. While traditional Chinese medicine interventions — used either alone or alongside Western medicine — are commonly employed in clinical practice for this condition, robust evidence for their effectiveness and safety had previously been lacking.
Researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of nineteen randomised controlled trials drawn from eight databases, encompassing 1,764 children diagnosed with IgA vasculitis nephritis. The trials all compared traditional Chinese medicine interventions against Western medicine alone. Primary interest was in the overall clinical response rate, with secondary measures including twenty-four-hour urinary protein excretion, urinary red blood cell count, beta-2-microglobulin, and D-dimer levels. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool, and the certainty of evidence was graded using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach.
Traditional Chinese medicine interventions were associated with a significantly higher overall clinical response rate and meaningful reductions in urinary protein excretion and beta-2-microglobulin compared with Western medicine alone. Additional reductions in red blood cell count and D-dimer were suggested in sensitivity analyses. Importantly, the rate of adverse events did not differ significantly between groups. The certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to very low across outcomes.
Conclusion: Traditional Chinese medicine interventions may offer short-term clinical and laboratory benefits for children with IgA vasculitis nephritis without increasing adverse events, though higher-quality trials with standardised outcomes and longer follow-up are needed to confirm these findings.
Source: Gou Y, Huang W, Liang M Medicine (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42260845) · doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000049135
