OBJECTIVE： To assess the effect of activating blood drugs （AB drugs） on blood glucose and lipid levels of diabetic patients METHODS： Systematic searches were conducted on 6 electronic databases and the search time was cut off in May 2016. Randomized controlled trials （RCTs） were included if they investigated diabetic patients who received Western medicine combined withAB drugs in the experimental groups and solitary usage of corresponding Western medicine or placebo in the control groups. 6 outcome measures, which were considered as inclusion, were changes in fasting blood glucose （FBG）, glycosylated haemoglobin A1 c （HbA 1 c）, total triglyceride （TG）, total cholesterol （TC）, low density lipoprotein cholesterol （LDL-c） and high density lipoprotein cholesterol （HDL-c）. The literature quality was assessed by Cochrane score for risk of bias in Review Manager 5.2, as well as meta-analysis was performed. RESULTS： 7 RCTs comprising 999 patients met all inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed beneficial effects of Western medicine combined with AB drugs on modulating FBG, TC, LDL-c and HDL-c compared with Western medicine or placebo （P〈0.05）, while no difference was observed in HbAlc, and TG （P〉0.05）. To some extent, the therapeutic effects of Western medicine combined with AB drugs were better than that of solitary usage of Western medicine or placebo. Besides, AB drugs were safe and reliable with little toxic and side-effects. CONCLUSIONS： The meta-analysis suggests beneficial effects of Western medicine combined with AB drugs on modulating blood glucose and lipids in diabetic patients.
