1. Tai Chi for Chronic Illness Management: Synthesizing Current Evidence from Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials
- Author
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Jacopo Demurtas, Lee Smith, Ulf Ekelund, Nicola Veronese, Chao Cao, Lin Yang, Kellie R. Imm, Igor Grabovac, Yikyung Park, Thomas Waldhoer, Albert Yeung, Liye Zou, Yin Zhang, Tao Xiao, Zou, L., Xiao, T., Cao, C., Smith, L., Imm, K., Grabovac, I., Waldhoer, T., Zhang, Y., Yeung, A., Demurtas, J., Veronese, N., Ekelund, U., Park, Y., and Yang, L.
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Mind-body exercise ,MEDLINE ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,Health outcomes ,Tai Chi ,law.invention ,Umbrella review ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Randomized controlled trial ,Meta-Analysis as Topic ,law ,Chronic illness management ,medicine ,Chronic illne ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ,business.industry ,Mind-Body Therapies ,General Medicine ,Mind/body exercise ,Systematic review ,Chronic Disease ,Physical therapy ,Quality of Life ,Tai Ji ,business - Abstract
An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the existing evidence of Tai Chi as a mind-body exercise for chronic illness management. MEDLINE/PubMed and Embase databases were searched from inception until March 31, 2019, for meta-analyses of at least two RCTs that investigated health outcomes associated with Tai Chi intervention. Evidence of significant outcomes (P value < 0.05) was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. This review identified 45 meta-analyses of RCTs and calculated 142 summary estimates among adults living with 16 types of chronic illnesses. Statistically significant results (P value < 0.05) were identified for 81 of the 142 outcomes (57.0%), of which 45 estimates presenting 30 unique outcomes across 14 chronic illnesses were supported by high (n = 1) or moderate (n = 44) evidence. Moderate evidence suggests that Tai Chi intervention improved physical functions and disease-specific outcomes compared with nonactive controls and improved cardiorespiratory fitness compared with active controls among adults with diverse chronic illnesses. Between-study heterogeneity and publication bias were observed in some meta-analyses. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.
- Published
- 2021