• Journal of Korean Critical Care Nursing
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.34-47
• /
• 2023

Purpose : Exercise may prevent the worsening of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and progression of cardiovascular diseases in patients with CKD. This review aims to identify the best type of exercise modality and summarizes the beneficial effects of exercise on physical and renal function among older adults with pre-dialysis CKD. Methods : A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and domestic database was performed for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect of exercise intervention on older adults with pre-dialysis CKD published until February 2023. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted. The risk of bias was assessed using a Cochrane tool for assessing the risk of bias in RCTs (RoB 2.0). Results : The systematic review included 11 RCTs (n = 591, average age 60.2-76), of which 8 could be included for meta-analysis. Exercise was significant in increasing peak oxygen consumption and knee muscle strength among physical functions, and also in improving glomerular filtration rate among kidney functions. Conclusion : Exercise has beneficial effects on physical and renal function among older adults with pre-dialysis CKD. In the future, it is necessary to verify the effectiveness of exercise by subdividing it by type, intensity, duration, and delivery.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.13-26
• /
• 2024

Objectives This study aimed to examine the efficacy of Korean traditional medicine treatments for recurrent lumbar disc herniation by analyzing randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods The following 6 databases were used Korean studies Information Service System, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, Research Information Sharing Service, ScienceON, PubMed, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Only RCTs were selected. The risk of bias was assessed by Cochrane's risk of bias tool. Results A total of 10 RCTs were analyzed, which utilized 8 types of interventions, including acupuncture, moxibustion, warm needling, electroacupuncture, herbal medicine, cupping, and chuna manual therapy. Acupuncture and moxibustion were the most frequently used treatments. There were 7 outcome measures, including the effective rate, visual analog scale, Japanese Orthopedic Association. The effective rate was assessed in all studies. Meta-analysis results indicated that warm needling therapy and traditional Chinese medicine interventions were more effective compared with the control. Conclusions In this study, warm needling therapy and herbal medicine interventions demonstrated beneficial effects. As the meta-analysis was conducted with only a subset of RCT studies, further large-scale, systematic RCT studies are needed.

• Clinical Nutrition Research
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.201-213
• /
• 2024

This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to test our hypothesis that herbal tea may improve anthropometric parameters, metabolic factors, and hormone levels in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). A literature search was conducted on Information Sciences Institute, Medline (PubMed), Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar, up to March 2023 without applying language or date restrictions. RCTs that assigned herbal tea vs. placebo on PCOS women and evaluated changes in anthropometric measurements, metabolic indices, or hormonal profiles were included. Six RCTs with 235 PCOS women (119 in the intervention and 116 in the control group) were included. Meta-analysis showed that herbal tea consumption led to significant decreases in weight (weighted mean difference [WMD], -2.02 kg; 95% confidence interval [CI], -3.25, -0.80), body mass index (BMI) (WMD, -0.88 kg/m²; 95% CI, -1.47, -0.28) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) (WMD, -6.47 mg/dL; 95% CI, -8.49, -4.45), compared to the control group. Herbal tea supplementation has also significantly increased follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentration (WMD, 0.56 IU/L; 95% CI, 0.17, 0.95). Meanwhile, the effect of herbal tea on the waist/hip ratio, hip circumference, waist circumference, body fat, fasting insulin, FBG/insulin ratio, luteinizing hormone, total testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate was not significant. Herbal tea might be a potential supplemental therapy to manage weight, BMI, FBG, and FSH in PCOS women. Further large randomized clinical trials are recommended to affirm these findings.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.603-620
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of herbal medicine on sleep disorders associated with Parkinson's disease and suggests a better research process. Methods: We searched for RCTs for herbal medicine treatments for sleep disorders related to Parkinson's disease on July 31, 2023 using eight databases (PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], the Research Information Service System [RISS], Science ON, the Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System [OASIS], and the Korea Citation Index [KCI]). Cochrane's risk of bias tool was used to assess the quality of the RCTs. Results: A total of 16 RCTs met all the inclusion criteria, and in most reports, the treatment group showed a significant improvement in sleep disorders compared to the control group. Total effective rate (TER), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), TCM Symptom Score (TSS), Parkinson's Disease Sleep Scale (PDSS), etc., were used as evaluation indicators. Conclusion: Herbal medicine is a potential treatment for sleep disorders associated with Parkinson's disease. However, the selected RCTs were of poor quality, and it is necessary to perform more systematic studies.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.44 no.6
• /
• pp.1197-1211
• /
• 2023

Objectives: This study presents evidence by analyzing the research trends in acupuncture treatment for cluster headache in the last 10 years. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about acupuncture for cluster headache were searched from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, ScienceON, Korean Studies Information Service System, and Research Information Sharing Service. The search terms were the combinations of "cluster headache", "acupuncture", and "needle therapy", and the articles were restricted to those published between 2013 and 2023. Only RCTs were selected. The risk of bias (RoB) was assessed according to the revised Cochrane RoB2 criteria. Results: Six RCTs were selected and analyzed in this review. All selected studies were conducted in China. All RCTs comprised 628 participants. Manual acupuncture was used in all studies. Acupuncture targeting the sphenopalatine ganglion was performed in two papers published after 2020. ST8, Ex-HIN3, and GB14 were the most frequently used acupoints in acupuncture treatment. The most commonly used indicators for evaluation were headache attack frequency, clinical efficacy, and the visual analog scale. In each study, adding acupuncture treatment to conventional therapy had significant effects in relieving the symptoms of cluster headaches. Conclusion: The results suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for cluster headache. To ensure objective evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in cluster headache, it is important to continue large-scale case reports and RCTs.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.165-182
• /
• 2017

Objectives: The purpose of this systematic review was to understand clinical usefulness of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on students' mental health. Methods: Ten databases were included to extract clinical studies on effects of EFT intervention with students. Characteristics of selected studies were described, and biases were assessed with Risk of Bias (RoB) or Risk of Bias Assessment for Non-Randomized Studies (RoBANS). Results: A total of 14 clinical trials were extracted for analysis. There were 8 randomized-controlled trials (RCTs), 2 non-randomized-controlled trials (nRCTs), and 4 before-after studies. EFT have significant clinical usefulness in public speaking anxiety, test anxiety, stress, depression, learning related emotions, adolescent anxiety, and eating issues. The risk of selection bias in most studies was high or uncertain. Conclusions: EFT is an effective clinical technique for managing students' mental health issues. However, the included studies have been conducted with relatively poor quality and small sample size. Clinical trials with high quality study design and well-designed EFT education programs are needed to generalize clinical usefulness.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.644-657
• /
• 2020

Objectives: The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the clinical therapeutic effects and safety of the Zeo lyung tang (ZLT) on primary glomerulonephritis (PGN). Methods: The MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, CENTRAL, CNKI, RISS, NDSL, KISS, and OASIS databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) testing the effects of ZLT on PGN. The Cochrane collaboration bias risk assessment scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. RevMan 5.3 software was used for data analysis. Results: Ten RCTs involving 781 patients were included in the review. Compared with conventional Western medicine (WM) therapy alone, a combination treatment of ZLT and WM improved the total effective rate (RR=1.24; 95%CI [1.16, 1.33]; p<0.00001), reduce the blood urea nitrogen (BUN; MD=-1.05; 95%CI [-1.32, -0.78]; p<0.00001) and the 24-hour urinary protein (MD=-0.38; 95%CI [-0.46, -0.29]; p<0.00001). Conclusions: The combination of ZLT with WM has therapeutic effects on PGN, and it has advantages over WM treatment alone in reducing BUN and 24-hour urinary protein. However, due to the low quality of the included studies and the small sample sizes, additional research is needed in this area.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.1-14
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if smoking cessation programs (SCPs) are effective for adults through a systematic review of the results of such programs in large randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: The PICO (Patient, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome) strategy was established, 1,160 literature from domestic and foreign electronic databases was reviewed, and 22 references were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of each reference was evaluated using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network tool, and meta-analysis was carried out. Results: The SCPs were significantly effective for adult smokers. Smoking cessation counseling, education, and smoking cessation medications such as nicotine patch were more effective than the other interventions. However, the results showed short-term effects (within six months), and differences were observed among the SCPs. For the outcome measures for SCPs, the abstinence rate of seven days was mainly used, but differences were identified between the CO level and the cotinine-verified abstinence rate of smoking cessation. Conclusions: For a smoking cessation program for adult smokers, the strength of the evidence of the program's effectiveness in RCTs that provide the identified intervention strategies should be considered.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.35-45
• /
• 2015

Objectives : To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Flexible brace(SpineCor Brace). Methods : CNKI, PubMed databases and Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine in 1999-2014 were searched for studies on SpineCor. This study researched 4 randomized controlled trial studies. Results : The results suggested that the SpineCor brace reduced the probability of the progression of early idiopathic scoliosis comparing with its natural history or rigid brace. But some studies showed that there is no significant difference between SpineCor and rigid brace. Conclusions : These results indicate that SpineCor have obvious effects on treatment of scoliosis and no adverse reactions, therefore we need to study more researches on SpineCor.

• The Journal of Churna Manual Medicine for Spine and Nerves
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2016

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of Chuna manual therapy for irritable bowel syndrome. Methods: The researcher conducted search across the 3 electronic databases (Pubmed, Wanfang data(included CAJ) and Oasis) to find all of randomized controlled clinical trials(RCTs) that used Chuna manual therapy for irritable bowel syndrome. Results: Eight RCTs met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis showed positive results for the use of Chuna manual therapy in terms of the therapeutic effects or symptom score compared to west medication, herbal medication, acupucture and moxa treatment alone. Conclusions: The review found encouraging but limited evidence of Chuna manual therapy for irritable bowel syndrome. More highquality clinical trials research is needed on Chuna, manipulative therapy of irritable bowel syndrome.