The use of medicinal plants in common ophthalmic disorders: A systematic review with meta-analysis

Ali Hendi Alghamdi; Aimun A E Ahmed; Mahadi Bashir; Haidar Abdalgadir; Asaad Khalid; Sheraz Gul

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15340

The use of medicinal plants in common ophthalmic disorders: A systematic review with meta-analysis

Heliyon. 2023 Apr 11;9(4):e15340. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15340. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Ali Hendi Alghamdi¹, Aimun A E Ahmed^{2

3}, Mahadi Bashir¹, Haidar Abdalgadir⁴, Asaad Khalid⁵, Sheraz Gul^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Surgery Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al Baha University, Al Baha, Saudi Arabia.
² Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Al Baha University, Al Baha, Saudi Arabia.
³ Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum, Sudan.
⁴ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Al Baha University, Al Baha, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Substance Abuse and Toxicology Research Center, Jazan University, P. O. Box: 114, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology, Schnackenburgallee 114, D-22525 Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Immune-Mediated Diseases CIMD, Schnackenburgallee 114, D-22525 Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to assess and compile the available research articles about medicinal plants used for ocular diseases.

Principal results: A total of 2949 articles were retrieved, 35 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and seven studies (4 observational and three experimental) with low to moderate quality were eligible and involved in the systematic review, with a total of 600 plants from 4 countries. Among the 600 plants, only 24 (4%) were used to assess the status. Both the fixed and random models of the studies showed that the included studies tended to predict the results for the observational studies (OR = 0.062, CI = 0.043-0.090 OR = 0.039, CI = 0.012-0.122) for different plants used for ocular diseases. High heterogeneity (estimated as I² = 87.078, Tau² = 1.161 and Q-value = 23.217 with a p-value of 0.000), while for experimental studies (I² = 94.928, Tau² = 23.211 and Q-value = 39.434 with a p-value of 0.000) and publication bias were reported.

Conclusion: Few articles representing approximately 600 plants of low to moderate quality reported using medicinal plants for ocular diseases. The meta-analysis confirmed the systematic review findings regarding the plants' traditional use with high heterogeneity and publication bias. A considerable gap was proven in the use of medicinal plants in ocular diseases requiring intensive research.

Keywords: Forest plot; Funnel plot; Medicinal plants; Meta-analysis; Ophthalmic; Prisma chart; Systematic review.