Abstract

To systematically evaluate the efficacy of adrenocorticotropic hormone in the treatment of respiratory diseases is the objective of the study. The literature related to controlled trials on the application of adrenocorticotropic hormone drugs for the treatment of patients with respiratory diseases was searched in Cochrane library, Web of science, PubMed, ProQuest and Chinese biomedical literature databases Wanfang, Wipu and China Knowledge Network from the time of establishment to August 2022, and the software review manager 5.3 was used to analyze the 10 included literatures and the heterogeneity of the studies was explored. This meta-analysis showed that adrenocorticotropic hormone improved the efficiency of treatment for patients with respiratory diseases [Odds ratio: 0.17, 95 % confidence interval (0.13, 0.21), p<0.00001] and improved patients lung function [Odds ratio: 2.98, 95 % confidence interval (2.63, 3.32), p<0.00001], with all of the above differences being statistically significant. In addition, 3 papers reported safety findings, 1 paper reported no adverse reactions in either group and 2 papers mentioned a lower incidence of adverse reactions in the experimental group than in the control group [Odds ratio: -0.17, 95 % confidence interval (-0.27, -0.07), p=0.001]. The funnel plots for each study suggested no publication bias. The use of adrenocorticotropic hormone drugs in the treatment of patients with respiratory diseases can significantly improve their clinical outcomes and lung function, and has a good safety profile, which is worth promoting in clinical practice. However, the quality of the literature included in this study is low and the quality of the sample is variable, so the precision of the argument is limited, and there is a need to conduct randomised controlled studies of higher quality and similar sample size for further analysis.