Zeitschrift für klinische und experimentelle Dermatologieforschung
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Alginate Dressings in Wound Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Zhi Qu1, Yang Wang2, Qi Niu1, Weiguang Wen1, Guoyong Ding3*, Weihua Liu1*

Alginate dressings play a positive role in wound care; however, controversial findings have been reported. We conducted this meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the efficacy of alginate dressings for wound care in patients. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Wanfang Data, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched for relevant studies. The Q test and I² statistic were used to examine the between-study heterogeneity. Fixed-or random-effects models were selected based on the study heterogeneity. Sensitivity analyses, funnel plots, and Begg’s tests were performed. Overall, 20 articles involving 54 trials were included in the analysis. Compared to other traditional wound dressings, our analyses revealed that alginate dressings played a positive role in shortening wound healing time (Weighted Mean Difference (WMD)=-8.04; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): -11.51 to-4.57; I²=98.3%), reducing pain (WMD=-0.96; 95% CI: -1.29 to-0.64; I²=90.1%), and reducing the frequency of dressing change (WMD=-6.75; 95% CI: -8.97 to-4.52; I²=97.1%). These findings suggest that alginate dressings could become a widely utilized and effective tool in clinical practice for improving patients' quality of life and lowering the healthcare burden of wound management. This provides an essential basis for reference in clinical wound care.