Key result
Moxibustion treatment showed statistically significant improvements in efficacy rates for cardiac arrhythmia compared to conventional treatments across 5 trials, though evidence is of low certainty.
Why the study?
The effects of moxibustion treatment for cardiac arrhythmia have not been systematically assessed with clear evidence on benefits and risks.
Does moxibustion treatment improve efficacy rates in patients with cardiac arrhythmia?
Systematic Review (n=468)
Does moxibustion treatment improve efficacy rates in patients with cardiac arrhythmia?
Moxibustion may help reduce cardiac arrhythmia, but the current evidence is of low certainty and requires high-quality studies to confirm benefits and risks.
Moxibustion may reduce arrhythmia but low-certainty evidence with unclear bias precludes practice change; leaves open need for rigorous RCTs.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of moxibustion treatment for Cardiac arrhythmia through a systematic review.Methods: Electronic database including Cochrane library, Pubmed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Embase, DBpia, and Korean studies Information Service System were searched by combining the keywords such as "arrhythmias", "cardiac arrhythmias", "心律失常", "moxibustion" and "艾灸".Through the searching, 5 randomized controlled trials(RCTs) were included except animal testing and cellular experiment etc.The quality of each RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool.Results: We included 5RCTs involving 468 participants.Two RCTs compared moxibustion versus conventional treatment, another RCT compared moxibustion plus acupuncture versus conventional treatment, another RCT compared moxibustion plus herbal medicine verus conventional treatment, the other RCT compared moxibustion plus herbal medicine and ointment versus conventional treatment.These studies were evaluated by the efficacy rate of treatments.Studies measured outcomes in efficacy, heart rate, electrocardiogram and symptoms.Each of 5 trials statistically showed a significant differences in efficacy rate.One study reported about side effects and another study reported about complications.The overall risk of bias was unclear in 5 studies. Conclusions:The evidence suggests that moxibustion treatment may help to reduce cardiac arrhythmia, however, it is limited, low-certainty and we cannot rule out benefits or risks with this treatment.High-quality studies that report adverse effects are needed.
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Lee et al. (2019) conducted a systematic review in Cardiac arrhythmia (n=468). Moxibustion vs. Conventional treatment (antiarrhythmic drugs or herbal medicine) was evaluated on Efficacy rate (based on heart rate, ECG, and symptoms). Moxibustion treatment showed statistically significant improvements in efficacy rates for cardiac arrhythmia compared to conventional treatments across 5 trials, though evidence is of low certainty.
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