EVALUATING BAOFUKANG SUPPOSITORY VERSUS INTERFERON Α-2B FOR TREATING CERVICAL HPV INFECTION IN FEMALE ATHLETES: A META-ANALYSIS

Abstract

This meta-analysis assesses the efficacy and safety of Baofukang suppository compared to interferon α-2B in the treatment of cervical human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among female athletes. Comprehensive database searches were conducted in both English (PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE) and Chinese (CNKI, Wanfang) from inception to December 2021, focusing on clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving these treatments. Data synthesis and analysis were performed using the Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.3 software, with the literature's quality assessed via the "risk of bias evaluation tool". The results indicated that Baofukang suppository significantly improved overall clinical efficacy (OR= 5.26, 95% CI 2.33-6.87, P < 0.001) and HPV negative conversion rate (RR = 3.85, 95% CI 1.03 - 5.74, P < 0.01) compared to interferon α-2B. Furthermore, it demonstrated a lower incidence of adverse events (OR= 1.85, 95% CI 0.59-2.44, P < 0.05), suggesting a superior safety profile. While these findings highlight the potential benefits of Baofukang suppository in treating cervical HPV among athletes, the variation in literature quality calls for further high-quality, large-scale RCTs to substantiate these results.