OBJECTIVE: To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis complicated with interstitial lung disease（RA-ILD）. METHODS: Wanfang Data

VIP

CNKI

CBM

PubMed

Web of Science

Embase and the Cochrane Library were retrieved to collect the randomized controlled trial of traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine in the treatment of RA-ILD（the study group was treated with traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine

while the control group received western medicine） until Oct. 15 th

2021. Literature were collected and analyzed by RevMan 5.4 software

and the quality of literature was evaluated by the Cochrane collaborative network. RESULTS: A total of 17 studies were extracted

including 1 254 patients. Compared with western medicine alone

traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine could effectively improve the total effective rate of patients with RA-ILD（RR=1.35

95%CI=1.24-1.47

P

<

0.000 01）

and improve the percentage of forced expiratory volume in one second to predicted value（FEV

1

%）（MD=8.75

95%CI=3.98-13.51

P=0.000 3）

percentage of total lung volume to predicted value（TLC%）（MD=8.40

95%CI=5.76-11.04

P

<

0.000 01）

percentage of forced expiratory volume in one second to forced vital capacity（FEV

1

/FVC）（MD=8.84

95%CI=3.88-13.80

P=0.000 5）

erythrocyte sedimentation rate（ESR）（MD=-5.85

95%CI=-9.22--2.49

P=0.000 7） and rheumatoid factor（RF）（MD=-8.14

95%CI=-14.90--1.38

P=0.02）

with statistically significant differences; yet there was no significant improvement in the percentage of forced vital capacity to predicted value（FVC%）（P

>

0.05）. As for the percentage of carbon monoxide diffusing amount to predicted value（DLCO%） and C-reactive protein（CRP） levels

due to the high heterogeneity among different studies

only descriptive analysis was performed. The results showed that traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine could also improve DLCO%

CRP levels. There was no significant difference in adverse drug reactions between two groups（P

>

0.05）. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine in the treatment of RA-ILD can effectively promote the total clinical effective rate

improve the FEV

1

%

TLC%

FEV

1

/FVC

ESR and RF levels without severe adverse drug reactions. However

the quality of the included literature is low

and larger samples and higher quality studies are needed for verification.