Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Mahuang Decoction（ 麻黄汤） combined with western medicine in the treatment of acute asthmatic bronchitis. Methods The databases of CNKI

Wangfang data

VIP

CBM

PubMed and Cochrane Library were searched from the founding date to July 10

2018. The quality included in these studies was evaluated with Cochrane risk of bias tool and GRADE standard. RevMan 5. 3 software was used for meta-analysis of total effective rate

disappear time of stridor

moist crackles

asthmatic suffocation and disappear time of cough. Results Totally 15 randomized controlled trials（ RCTs） were involved with 1342 patients.The test group was given modified Mahuang Decoction and conventional western medicine treatment

and the control group was given conventional western medicine treatment. Seven items were moderate risk of bias

and the rest were the high risk of bias. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with western medicine treatment alone

modified Mahuang Decoction and conventional western medicine treatment significantly improved the total effective rate（ RR = 1. 23

95% CI [1. 18

1. 28]）

shortened the disappear time of stridor（ day）（ MD =-1. 72

95% CI[-1. 94

-1. 50]）

moist crackles（ day）（ MD =-1. 61

95% CI [-1. 76

-1. 45]）

asthmatic suffocation（ day）（ MD =-1. 83

95% CI [-2. 06

-1. 60]） and cough（ day）（ MD =-2. 53

95% CI [-2. 96

-2. 11]）. GRADE evaluation results showed that the indicator of total effective rate

disappear time of stridor

moist crackles and asthmatic suffocation were moderate quality evidence

and the disappearance time of cough was very lowquality evidence. Conclusion Mahuang Decoction together with western medicine therapy for acute wheezing bronchitis was better than western medicine therapy alone

but due to the quality of evidence is mostly medium and low

it is still necessary to conduct high-quality and detailed randomized controlled trials in order to increase the strength of evidence.