Efficacy of a herbal preparation in patients with functional dyspepsia: A meta-analysis of double-blind, randomized, clinical trials

A meta-analysis was performed of double-blind, randomized clinical studies that evaluated the efficacy of the herbal preparation lberogast in patients with functional dyspepsia. All studies had the same duration and used the same dosage of active treatment and the same primary outcome measure, a dyspepsia-specific gastrointestinal symptom score. Of the 592 trial participants, 196 were treated with lberogast and 192 with placebo or cisapride (positive control). The individual studies all showed a substantial improvement of symptoms with lberogast but varying results regarding its statistically significant superiority to placebo. The meta-analysis of all studies, however, demonstrated a clear, highly significant overall therapeutic effect of lberogast in the treatment of functional dyspepsia. Tolerability of the preparation was excellent.