Review Article Efficacy and safety of Guanxin Danshen dropping pills for the treatment of angina pectoris: a meta-analysis

Objective: To evaluate the effect of Guanxin Danshen dropping pills (GDDP) for treating angina pectoris (AP) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating GDDP for AP in CHD patients were systematically screened from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and WanFang databases from database inception to March 2023. Bias assessment followed the Cochrane Manual 5.1 criteira, and data analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. Results: Twenty articles were included in the meta-analysis. Compared to standard therapy, GDDP exhibited a superior efficacy in treating AP (P < 0.01), significantly improved electrocardiogram (ECG) outcomes in AP patients (P < 0.00001), reduced frequency of AP episodes (P < 0.01), lowered incidence of cardiovascular events in AP patients (P = 0.01) and significantly elevated hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) levels (all P < 0.01). However, it did not significantly affect the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), or matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) (all P > 0.05). GDDP also reduced total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (all P < 0.01) as well as whole blood viscosity (WBV), plasma viscosity, fibrinogen and hematocrit levels (all P < 0.01). Additionally, the combination of GDDP and conventional CHD treatment was found to be safe. Conclusion: Combining GDDP with conventional western medicine was more effective than either treatment alone in reducing cardiovascular events, alleviating angina symptoms, improving inflammation, and optimizing hemorheological parameters, without increasing side effects. These findings underscore GDDP's use as a complementary treatment for CHD.