Pelargonium sidoides is a commonly sold herbal medicine approved in Germany for the treatment of acute bronchitis. However, there have been indications of possible liver damage. Our Cochrane review of efficacy, first published in 2007, will be updated to provide additional information on additional patient groups as well as adverse events.

The expanded review will include all controlled prospective studies of any dosage form of PS on respiratory disease in children and adults, including those with chronic respiratory disease. Relevant outcome criteria (primary outcomes) are time to freedom from symptoms or the proportion of subjects who become symptom-free within a disease-dependent predefined time period (efficacy) and the proportion of subjects with serious adverse events (safety). Additional outcome measures will include quality of life, time off work, use of antibiotics, frequency of any adverse events, and study discontinuation due to adverse events.

The review is carried out in cooperation with the German Cochrane Center and the Center for Medical Biometry and Informatics (IMBI) in Freiburg.

• Timmer A, Gunther J, Motschall E, Rucker G, Antes G, Kern WV. Pelargonium sidoides extract for treating acute respiratory tract infections. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Oct 22.