Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Effects and Safety of Non-Pharmacological Therapies of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Coronary Heart Disease: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

Table 2

Summary of evidence across outcomes from included reviews.


Intervention and comparator	Number of primary studies	Type of publication	Findings^a and certainty of evidence (GRADE)
Intervention and comparator	Number of primary studies	Type of publication	High^b	Moderate^c	Low^d	Very low^e

Outcome: composite cardiovascular events (CCEs)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA			+1
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care		SR				+1
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR			+1

Outcome: clinical effects (total clinical efficiency: improvements in symptoms and ECG)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR + MA			+1
TCM emotional therapy plus usual care vs usual care	7	SR + MA			+1

Outcome: clinical effects (improvements in symptoms)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	21	SR + MA		+3
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care		SR				+1
Acupuncture vs usual care	2	SR + MA		+1
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: clinical effects (improvements in ECG)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	17	SR + MA		+3
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care		SR				−1
Acupuncture vs usual care	2	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: clinical effects (time to onset of angina relief in response to treatment)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR + MA			+1
Acupuncture vs usual care	2	SR + MA			−1
Outcome: SAQ (total score)
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR				+1
Outcome: SAQ (physical limitation)
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	8	SR + MA		+1	+1
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR + MA				+2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: SAQ (angina frequency)
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	9	SR + MA		+1	+1
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR + MA				−2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: SAQ (angina stability)
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	9	SR + MA		+2
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR + MA				−2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: SAQ (treatment satisfaction)
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	9	SR + MA		±1
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR + MA				+2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA			+1

Outcome: SAQ (disease perception)
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	9	SR + MA		+2
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR + MA				−2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA			−1
Outcome: SF-36
Taiji plus jogging vs jogging	1	SR + MA				+1
Taiji plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR + MA				+1

Outcome: MLHFQ
Taiji plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR + MA				+1

Outcome: 6MWT
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	5	SR + MA			+2
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR				−1

Outcome: METs
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA			+1

Outcome: VO₂peak
Tai Chi Chuan vs physical activity counseling	1	SR			−1
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR + MA				−1

Outcome: VO₂/HR
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	2	SR + MA			+1

Outcome: SAS
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR				−1
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	8	SR + MA		+2	+1
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA				+1
TCM emotional therapy plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA			+1

Outcome: SDS
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	1	SR				−1
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	6	SR + MA		+1	+2
TCM exercise therapies plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA				+1
TCM emotional therapy plus usual care vs usual care	3	SR + MA				+1

Outcome: HAMD
TCM emotional therapy plus usual care vs usual care	4	SR + MA		+1

Outcome: adverse events related to the intervention
Baduanjin plus usual care vs usual care	13	SR		−1
Baduanjin vs usual medical exercise	1	SR			−1
Acupuncture plus usual care vs usual care	19	SR		−2
Acupuncture vs usual care	2	SR		−1

Abbreviations: SR, systematic review; SR + MA, systematic review and meta-analysis; GRADE, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. ^aThe number indicates how many SR + MAs or SRs contributed to that result. ^bReviews that received no downgrades. ^cReviews that received 1 or 2 downgrades. ^dReviews that received 3 or 4 downgrades. ^eReviews that received 5 or 6 downgrades. + signifies statistically significant improvement in effectiveness outcomes or significantly increased risk of harms for safety outcomes. − signifies non-statistically significant change. ± signifies mixed or discordant results within SR + MAs and SRs.