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

Liye Zou; Tao Xiao; Chao Cao; Lee Smith; Kellie Imm; Igor Grabovac; Thomas Waldhoer; Yin Zhang; Albert Yeung; Jacopo Demurtas; Nicola Veronese; Ulf Ekelund; Yikyung Park; Lin Yang

doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.015

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

Am J Med. 2021 Feb;134(2):194-205.e12. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.015. Epub 2020 Sep 15.

Authors

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

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
² College of Mathematics and Statistics, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
³ Program in Physical Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA.
⁴ The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
⁶ Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁸ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
¹⁰ Primary Care Department, LHT South-East Tuscany, Grosseto, Italy.
¹¹ National Research Council, Neuroscience Institute, Aging Branch, Padua, Italy.
¹² Department of Sport Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway; Department of Chronic Diseases and Ageing, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
¹³ 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, Mo.
¹⁴ Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Cancer Care 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@albertahealthservices.ca.

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

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.

Keywords: Chronic illness; Mind-body exercise; Randomized controlled trial; Tai Chi; Umbrella review.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Chronic Disease
Humans
Meta-Analysis as Topic
Mind-Body Therapies
Quality of Life*
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
Tai Ji*