Abstract: ObjectiveTo systematically assess the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine in conjunction with recombinant human growth hormone, as well as that of recombinant human growth hormone alone, in the treatment of children with idiopathic short stature, thereby providing an evidence-based reference for clinical treatment. MethodsCNKI, VIP, Wanfang, CBM, and Pubmed were searched for literature that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria from the establishment of the database to September 30, 2024. RevMan 5.4 software was used for statistical analysis.ResultsA total of 19 randomized controlled clinical trials with 1 756 patients were included, including 873 cases in the observation group and 883 cases in the control group. The results of Meta-analysis showed that the application of traditional Chinese medicine combined with recombinant human growth hormone in the treatment of idiopathic short stature was significantly better than the simple application of recombinant human growth hormone in improving the total effective rate, height, weight, growth rate, insulin-like growth factor 1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 levels, and the incidence of adverse reactions was lower than the simple application of recombinant human growth hormone.ConclusionThe integration of traditional Chinese medicine with recombinant human growth hormone demonstrates significant efficacy in the treatment of children with idiopathic short stature.

Key words: Idiopathic short stature, Integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, Randomized controlled trial, Meta-analysis, Child