Objective To systematically review the effectiveness of Yindan Xinnaotong capsule for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Methods We electronically searched databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, CBM, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data for published articles of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of Yindan Xinnaotong capsule plus conventional drugs versus conventional drugs for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases from inception to April, 2016. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 62 RCTs involving 6 306 patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the improvement of symptoms, such as the total clinical effective rate of cerebrovascular disease indications (stroke) (RR=1.25, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.31,P<0.000 01), and the total clinical effective rate of cerebrovascular disease (ischemic headache) indications (RR=1.27, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.38,P<0.000 01), and the total clinical effective rate of coronary heart disease and angina pectoris (RR=1.21, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.25,P<0.000 01), were superior in the combination arm to the conventional drugs alone arm. Conclusion The current evidence shows that the combination of Yindan Xinnaotong capsule and conventional drugs may significantly improve the effectiveness. Due to the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, the above conclusions need more high quality studies to verify.
