Efficacy and safety of red and infrared light in the adjunctive treatment on diabetic foot ulcers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The use of various adjunctive phototherapies for diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) makes it difficult to fully understand their roles in current laser-based review studies. Red and infrared light have significant advantages for wound healing. To evaluate the impact of red and infrared light on the healing of DFUs and provide evidence based recommendations for future clinical adjunctive treatments of DFUs. Methods: Multiple databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, PEDro, CNKI, CBM, Wanfang, and VIP, were systematically searched for articles published until November 2023. The focus of the search was to identify randomised controlled trials that investigated the effects of red and infrared light on the treatment of DFUs. Data extraction, literature screening, and methodological quality assessment were conducted independently by two researchers. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan5.4 and STATA16.0 software. Results: A total of 28 studies, involving 1471 patients, were included. The meta-analysis showed that groups treated with red and infrared light had a significantly higher ulcer healing rate [risk ratio (RR) = 1.93, 95 % confidence interval (CI) (1.63, 2.28), P < 0.00001], shorter ulcer healing time [mean difference (MD) = 18.52, 95 % CI (8.58, 28.47), P < 0.00001], increased peak blood flow velocity in the dorsalis pedis artery [mean difference (MD) = 6.54, 95 % CI (4.01,9.08)], P < 0.00001), and reduced wound pain score [mean difference (MD) =-4.33, 95 % CI (-4.94,-3.71)], P < 0.00001) compared to the control group. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of adverse events [odds ratio (OR) = 0.32, 95 % CI (0.09, 1.17), P = 0.08] between the two methods. Conclusion: The use of red and infrared light as an adjunctive treatment for DFUs is more beneficial than conventional wound care. However, due to limitations in the quality and sample size of the included studies, further high-quality research is needed to validate these conclusions.