Tai Chi for Chronic Illness Management: Synthesizing Current Evidence from Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials


Author: Liye Zou1, Tao Xiao2, Chao Cao3, Lee Smith4, Kellie Imm5, Igor Grabovac6, Thomas Waldhoer7, Yin Zhang8, Albert Yeung9, Jacopo Demurtas10, Nicola Veronese11, Ulf Ekelund12, Yikyung Park13, Lin Yang14

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Exercise and Mental Health Laboratory; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

<sup>2</sup> College of Mathematics and Statistics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

<sup>3</sup> Program in Physical Therapy and Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA.

<sup>4</sup> The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.

<sup>5</sup> Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.

<sup>6</sup> Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

<sup>7</sup> Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

<sup>8</sup> Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

<sup>9</sup> Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

<sup>10</sup> Primary Care Department, LHT South-East Tuscany, Grosseto, Italy.

<sup>11</sup> National Research Council, Neuroscience Institute, Aging Branch, Padua, Italy.

<sup>12</sup> Department of Sport Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway; Department of Chronic Diseases and Ageing, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.

<sup>13</sup> Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA; Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA.

<sup>14</sup> Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, CancerControl Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada; Departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. Electronic address: lin.yang@ahs.ca.
Conference/Journal: Am J Med
Date published: 2020 Sep 15
Other:
  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.015.   ,  Word Count: 181  
    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 31st March 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 non-active controls and cardiorespiratory fitness compared with active controls among adults with diverse chronic illnesses. Between-study heterogeneity and publication bias were observed in some meta-analyses.



Keywords: Tai Chi; chronic Illness; mind-body exercise; randomized controlled trial; umbrella review.



PMID: 32946848 DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.015