Autohemotherapy combined with other external treatments of Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic urticaria: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

What was studied

This review looked at chronic urticaria, a skin disease that keeps coming back. It studied autohemotherapy, called AHT, given with other TCM care. TCM stands for Traditional Chinese Medicine. The TCM care was given on the outside of the body. The team looked in 11 sets of records up to August 10, 2025. They pooled 20 trials in which people were put into groups by chance. In all, 1,461 people took part. One group got AHT plus other TCM care, and the other group got Western drugs.

What they found

Overall, more people got better in the AHT group than in the Western drug group. The AHT group also had fewer cases of the skin disease coming back. Blood IgE levels were lower in the AHT group, too. Itch and the time that welts lasted also seemed to improve. But the itch and welt results were not stable. They also showed signs of publication bias. So these results may not be reliable.

What it means for patients

The authors say AHT with some other TCM care can help people with this disease. They say it can improve how well care works. They say it can also lower the rate at which the disease comes back. Still, they say better trials are needed to judge how well it works. Its safety also needs more careful study, the authors say.

Why it is not certain yet

The authors raised concerns about the trials in this review. How people were split into groups was unclear. Blinding was also unclear, meaning who knew which care each person got. The trials measured their results in different ways. The trials also had flaws in how they were run. They also differed a lot from one another. A review can only be as good as the studies in it.

Source

Autohemotherapy combined with other external treatments of Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic urticaria: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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