Effectiveness of Honey Dressing in Wound Healing: Systematic Review and Metaanalysis

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of honey in promoting wound healing. Method: The MEDLINE/PubMed electronic database, Cochrane library, ClinicalTrials.gov, EBSCO, Scopus, ProQuest, Cambridge Core, reference lists, conference proceedings, and researchers in fields of eligible studies were searched. Six studies (n = 682 subjects) were included in qualitative analysis of which three studies (n = 174 subjects) were included in meta-analysis. Several parameters are used to assess the effectiveness of honey in wound healing, including average time for the wound to heal, percentage of wound reduction, eradication of infection, pain score, healing index, and the amount of patient healed during observation time. Articles with normal saline as control are chosen for the study. Result: From the systematic-review perspective, Honey dressing application can promote wound healing faster than normal saline, including better in eradication of infection, pain score, healing index, and the amount of patient healed during observation time, but from meta-analysis study, honey dressing application is not proven to promote wound healing faster than normal saline. Conclusion: Application of honey dressing is superior in promoting wound healing compared to normal saline from systematic-review study, but not proven with meta-analysis study.