Traditional Chinese Exercise for Cardiovascular Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Author: Wang XQ1, Pi YL2, Chen PJ3, Liu Y4, Wang R4, Li X5, Chen BL5, Zhu Y6, Yang YJ7, Niu ZB4 Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Shangti Orthopaedic Hospital, Shanghai, China. <sup>2</sup>Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Punan Hospital, Shanghai, China. <sup>3</sup>Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China chenpeijie@sus.edu.cn. <sup>4</sup>Key Laboratory of Exercise and Health Sciences of Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China. <sup>5</sup>Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China. <sup>6</sup>Rehabilitation Therapy Center, Hainan Province Nongken General Hospital, Haikou, China. <sup>7</sup>Second School of Clinical Medical, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China. Conference/Journal: J Am Heart Assoc. Date published: 2016 Mar 9 Other: Volume ID: 5 , Issue ID: 3 , Pages: e002562 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1161/JAHA.115.002562. , Word Count: 289 BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese exercise (TCE) has widespread use for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease; however, there appears to be no consensus about the benefits of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effects of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: Relevant studies were searched by PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. We covered only published articles with randomized controlled trials. The outcome measures included physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression. A total of 35 articles with 2249 cardiovascular disease patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. The pooling revealed that TCE could decrease systolic blood pressure by 9.12 mm Hg (95% CI -16.38 to -1.86, P=0.01) and diastolic blood pressure by 5.12 mm Hg (95% CI -7.71 to -2.52, P<0.001). Patients performing TCE also found benefits compared with those in the control group in terms of triglyceride (standardized mean difference -0.33, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.09, P=0.006), 6-minute walk test (mean difference 59.58 m, 95% CI -153.13 to 269.93, P=0.03), Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire results (mean difference -17.08, 95% CI -23.74 to -10.41, P<0.001), 36-Item Short Form physical function scale (mean difference 0.82, 95% CI 0.32-1.33, P=0.001), and Profile of Mood States depression scale (mean difference -3.02, 95% CI -3.50 to -2.53, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that TCE can effectively improve physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression among patients with cardiovascular disease. More high-quality randomized controlled trials on this topic are warranted. © 2016 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell. KEYWORDS: cardiovascular disease; exercise; meta‐analysis; rehabilitation PMID: 26961239 PMCID: PMC4943241 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.115.002562