Fig 1.
PRISMA 2020 flowchart for the current meta-analysis.
Table 1.
Study characteristic of the included trials.
Table 2.
Detailed quality assessment of included studies using Cochrane risk of bias 2 tool.
Fig 2.
Summary of quality assessment of studies included in the meta-analysis using Cochrane risk of bias 2 tool.
Fig 3.
This is a forest plot comparing the total clearance rate of oral zinc sulphate versus placebo in the treatment of viral warts.
Patients taking oral zinc sulphate had significantly greater total clearance rate of warts. The studies are listed in alphabetical order. CI, confidence interval.
Fig 4.
This is the result of sensitivity analysis by using the one-study removal method.
All analyses showed statistically significant effects of oral zinc sulphate in treating viral warts. The studies are listed in alphabetical order. CI, confidence interval.
Fig 5.
This is a forest plot of a subgroup analysis based on patients’ initial plasma zinc ion concentration.
The analysis shows that patients with lower initial plasma zinc ion levels have more effective treatment for viral warts when taking zinc sulphate. The studies are listed in alphabetical order. CI, confidence interval.
Fig 6.
This is a forest plot from a subgroup analysis based on whether patients combined traditional therapies.
The analysis indicates that zinc sulphate alone is more effective for treating viral warts compared to combined treatments. However, this might be due to traditional therapies masking the effects of zinc sulphate in the combined treatment group. The studies are listed in alphabetical order. CI, confidence interval.
Table 3.
Summary of the results of the statistical analyses of the included studies.
Fig 7.
Meta-regression of risk difference on mean difference of plasma zinc ion concentration (mg/day) in all experimental groups.
The coefficient was 0.0068 with a p value < 0.001.
Fig 8.
Meta-regression of risk difference on disease duration (months).
The coefficient was 0.0233 with a p value was 0.0001.
Fig 9.
This is a forest plot comparing the relapse rates within six months for patients treated with oral zinc sulphate combined with traditional therapy versus traditional therapy alone.
The results show that the group receiving zinc sulphate had significantly lower relapse rates. The studies are listed in alphabetical order. CI, confidence interval.
Table 4.
Summary of the meta-regression results of the statistical analyses of the included studies.