Table 3 Outcomes of the included systematic reviews

1

Gong Y2014

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.22 [1.15, 1.30], Adverse reaction rate (+)

2

Li WH2013

Total effectiveness (+) OR 5.50 [3.74, 8.08], Cure rate (+) OR 3.26 [2.44, 4.35], Adverse reaction rate (+)

3

Zuo HB2013

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.75 [1.24, 2.48], Adverse reaction rate (+), Clinical symptoms (+), Electron enteroscopy results (+)

4

Pei QW2012

Total effectiveness (+) OR 3.87 [2.47, 6.05], Adverse reaction rate (+)

5

Wen Y2017

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.55 [1.39, 1.72], Adverse reaction rate (+), DAI (+), TNF-a (+), IL-17 (+), CRP (+)

6

Chen K2016

Total effectiveness (+) OR 3.30 [2.25, 4.82], significant effectiveness (+) OR 2.02 [1.54, 2.65], inefficiency rate (+) OR 0.30 [0.21, 0.44]

7

Lu2017

Inefficiency rate (+) OR 0.26 [0.20, 0.35], recurrence rate (+), DAI (+), TNF-a (+), IL-17 (+), IL-23 (+), CRP (+)

8

Wang XY2017

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.44 [2.65, 7.44], Cure rate (+) OR 1.72 [1.08, 2.75], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+)

9

Wei Y2018

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 6.03 [1.95, 16.46]

10

Zhang LH2018

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.32 [2.55, 7.31], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+)

11

Li HB2017

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.69 [3.00, 7.34], Adverse reaction rate (−)

12

Li HB2018

Total effectiveness (+) OR 2.16 [1.28, 3.63], Adverse reaction rate (−), TCM syndrome (−), mucosal lesion (+)

13

Huang FMZ2014

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.15, 1.26], Recurrence rate (+), DAI (+), TCM syndrome (+), IgA* (+), IgM* (+), IgG* (+), Symptom relief time (+), stool occult blood (+), performance of colonoscopy (+)

14

Li HB-a2018

Total effectiveness (+) OR 3.12 [2.11, 4.60], Adverse reaction rate (+), abdominal pain (+), diarrhea (−), pus and blood stool (−)

15

Liu G2011

Total effectiveness (+) OR 0.18 [0.11, 0.32]

16

Gu SZ2018

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.17 [1.12, 1.21], Adverse reaction rate (−), TCM syndrome (+), DAI (+)

17

Xiong AQ2011

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 3.71 [2.26, 6.10]

18

Lv C2014

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.13, 1.28], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (−), IL-13 (+), IL-8 (−), ESR (−), CRP (−), TCM syndrome (+), IgG (+), abdominal pain (+), diarrhea (+), pus and blood stool (+), Geboes (+), Mucosal biopsy score (−), performance of colonoscopy (+), Time of bellyache disappearance (+), Time of diarrhea disappearance (−)

19

Wang DY2011

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.26 [1.11, 1.43], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+), pus and blood stool (−), performance of colonoscopy (+)

20

Liu TW2016

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.14, 1.27], Adverse reaction rate (−)

21

Yang L2017

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.31 [1.19, 1.44], IL-6 (+), IL-8 (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), TCM syndrome (+),

22

Zhang WN2017

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.23 [1.15, 1.32]

23

Chen F2012

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.27 [1.21, 1.34], Recurrence rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+)

24

Yan SG2013

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.18 [2.95, 5.91], cure rate (+) OR 2.86 [2.17, 3.76], Recurrence rate (+)

25

Xiong J2008

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 4.19 [2.89, 6.07], cure rate (+) OR 3.12 [2.34, 4.15], Recurrence rate (+)

26

Chen MY2018

Total effectiveness (−) RR 0.99 [0.91, 1.08], Adverse reaction rate (+), DAI (−), performance of colonoscopy (+)

27

Chen MY2018-a

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.13, 1.26], Adverse reaction rate (−), Recurrence rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), Time of bellyache disappearance (+), Time of diarrhea disappearance (−), Time of hematochezia disappearance (+)

28

Cui DJ2012

Clinical effectiveness (−) RR 0.97 [0.70, 1.35], Adverse reaction rate (−),

29

Ma XM2012

Total effectiveness (+) OR 5.29 [3.67, 7.63], cure rate (+) OR 3.65 [2.61, 5.12], Adverse reaction rate (+), DAI (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), abdominal pain (+), diarrhea (+), pus and blood stool (+)

30

Lai YL2013

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.14 [1.06, 1.23], cure rate (+) RR 1.54 [1.18, 2.00], Adverse reaction rate (+)

31

Zhu JB2016

Total effectiveness (+) OR 5.20 [2.63, 10.29]

32

Huang ZB2014

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.05 [2.98, 5.50], cure rate (+) OR 3.24 [2.57, 4.09], Adverse reaction rate (+)

33

Qi J2016

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.97 [1.73, 14.33], cure rate (+) OR 3.51 [1.92, 6.42]

34

luo Y2012

Total effectiveness (+)

35

Xu P2015

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.28 [3.16, 5.79], Adverse reaction rate (+), DAI (+), IL-6 (−), performance of colonoscopy (+), Time of bellyache disappearance (+), Time of diarrhea disappearance (+), Time of hematochezia disappearance (+), Time of fever disappearance (+)

36

Gong YD2012

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 4.54 [3.29, 6.18], DAI (+), ESR (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), IgA (−), IgM (+), IgG (−), Whole blood viscosity score (−), plasma viscosity (+), abdominal pain (+), diarrhea (+), pus and blood stool (+), tenesmus (+)

37

Ma DZ2015

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 4.2 [2.72, 6.49]

38

Huang SG2010

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 6.67 [4.22, 10.53]

39

Ni XX2019

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.15, 1.25], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), TCM syndrome (+)

40

Jiang T2006

Clinical effectiveness (+), Total effectiveness (+) OR 0.24 [0.14, 0.39], Adverse reaction rate (+)

41

Zhu XG2012

Total effectiveness (+) OR 6.10 [4.33, 8.60]

42

You WF2017

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 6.34 [3.97, 10.14]

43

Cui DJ-a2012

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.16 [1.07, 1.25], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+)

44

Wu Zl2017

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.25 [1.19, 1.31], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+), ESR (+)

45

Huang HJ2012

Total effectiveness (+) OR 13.36 [4.90, 36.46], Cure rate (+) OR 4.55 [2.90, 7.14]

46

Zha AS2015

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.248 [1.187, 1.313], Adverse reaction rate (+)

47

Hou LW2017

Clinical effectiveness (+), Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.24 [1.18, 1.30], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+)

48

Hou LW2015

Clinical effectiveness (+), Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.32 [1.23, 1.41], Cure rate (+) RR 1.91 [1.35, 2.70], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), TCM syndrome (+)

49

Gan YK2015

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 3.36 [1.96, 5.76]

50

Zhu JM2011

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.13 [1.04, 1.23], performance of colonoscopy (−), TCM syndrome (+)

51

Wang DY2013

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 5.16 [3.35, 7.95], Cure rate (+) OR 2.9 [2.10, 3.98], Adverse reaction rate (+), Recurrence rate (+)

52

Wang Y2018

Bifidobacterium level (+), Lactobacillus level (+), Enterococcus level (+), E. coli level (+)

53

He M2007

Clinical effectiveness (+), Total effectiveness (+) OR 0.26 [0.16, 0.42]

54

Pei QW2013

Total effectiveness (+) OR 5.06 [3.41, 7.52], Adverse reaction rate (+), performance of colonoscopy (+), TCM syndrome (+)

55

Yang AX2006

Clinical effectiveness (+), Total effectiveness (+) OR 6.60 [4.60, 9.47]

56

Zhu L2012

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.17 [1.10, 1.25]

57

Jia JW2019

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.99 [3.48, 7.14], IL-6 (+), IL-10 (+), CRP (+), Mucosal biopsy score (+)

58

Li L2019

Adverse reaction rate (+), Clinical efficacy (+) RR 4.93 [3.35, 7.26]

59

Chen MJ2019

Total effectiveness (+) OR 0.13 [0.08, 0.18], Adverse reaction rate (+)

60

Wu N2019

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.23 [1.14, 1.31],Adverse reaction rate (+), IL-6 (+), TNF-α (+), IgA (+), IgG (+)

61

Peng JF2019

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.17 [1.13, 1.21], Recurrence rate (+), Adverse reaction rate (+)

62

Fan 2019

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.21 [1.12, 1.31], Recurrence rate (+), Adverse reaction rate (+),performance of colonoscopy (+)

63

Chi RT2019

Total effectiveness (+) OR 3.35 [2.45, 4.60], DAI (+),Adverse reaction rate (−), TCM syndrome (+), TNF-α (+),IL-17 (+), IL-23 (+), ESR (+), CRP (+)

64

Tang XJ2020

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.18 [1.14, 1.23]

65

Liao ZW2020

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.23 [1.16, 1.29], Recurrence rate (+), Adverse reaction rate (−), TNF-α (+), IL-6 (+), IL-8 (+), MPV (+), PLT (+), FIB(+)

66

Long TJ2020

Total effectiveness (+) OR 3.84 [2.07, 7.13], TCM syndrome (+), Mucosal biopsy score (+)

67

Long CW2021

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.19 [1.07, 1.31], Cure rate (+) RR 1.72 [1.44, 2.06], Adverse reaction rate (+), ESR (−), CRP (+)

68

Bo HJ2020

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.24 [1.18, 1.30],Recurrence rate (+), Adverse reaction rate (+), Efficacy of mucosal lesions (+)

69

Li PF2020

Total effectiveness (+) RR 1.31 [1.25, 1.37], Recurrence rate (+), Mayo score (+), Adverse reaction rate (+), TCM syndrome (+), Mucosal biopsy score (+)

70

Tan GZ2020

Total effectiveness (+) OR 4.90 [3.75, 6.41], Adverse reaction rate (+), Efficacy of mucosal lesions (+)

71

Hu QH2021

Clinical effectiveness (+) RR 1.20 [1.12, 1.29], TCM syndrome (+)

72

Yan ZX 2021

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 3.87 [2.71, 5.51], Recurrence rate (+), Efficacy of mucosal lesions (+)

73

Yuan H2020

Clinical effectiveness (+) OR 0.22 [0.13, 0.39], Adverse reaction rate (+)