We evaluated the evidence for the effectiveness and safety of CHM for treating recurrent UTIs in women. Our searches to May 2015 for Western and July 2014 for Chinese literature led to the inclusion of seven studies that met our selection criteria for this review. These involved a total of 542 women.
The studies suggested that CHM used either on its own or with antibiotic treatment may be more effective than antibiotics alone for relieving acute UTIs and preventing recurrent episodes. There were only two studies that explicitly stated that adverse events were to be reported; neither reported any adverse events.
However, studies were small and assessed as having poor methodological quality; and most study participants were post-menopausal. Therefore, results should be interpreted cautiously and can only be considered as preliminary findings that may not be relevant to pre-menopausal women. Further research is required to provide more rigorous evidence before CHM can be routinely recommended as a treatment option for recurrent UTIs.
One study comparing different CHM treatments found Er Xian Tang was more effective in treating acute infection in post-menopausal women than San Jin Pian
Authors' conclusions:
Evidence from seven small studies suggested that CHM as an independent intervention or in conjunction with antibiotics may be beneficial for treating recurrent UTIs during the acute phase of infection and may reduce the recurrent UTI incidence for at least six months post-treatment. CHM treatments specifically formulated for recurrent UTI may be more effective than herbal treatments designed to treat acute UTI. However, the small number and poor quality of the included studies meant that it was not possible to formulate robust conclusions on the use of CHM for recurrent UTI in women either alone or as an adjunct to antibiotics.