Qigong for healthcare: an overview of systematic reviews.


Author: Lee MS,  Oh B,  Ernst E.

Affiliation: Brain Disease Research Centre, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine ,  Daejeon, South Korea. 
Conference/Journal: JRSM Short Rep. 
Date published: 2011 Feb 7
Other:
 Volume ID: 2   ,  Issue ID: 2   ,  Pages: 7   ,  Word Count: 176  
    OBJECTIVES: Qigong has been recommended to improve health and 

prevent disease but the evidence is inconclusive. The aim of this overview was 

to critically evaluate all systematic reviews (SRs) of qigong for the treatment 

of any condition or symptom. DESIGN: Literature 

searches were carried out in 11 electronic databases for all systematic reviews 

of the effectiveness of qigong in any indication. Reviews were defined as 

systematic if they included an explicit and repeatable methods section 

describing the search strategy and explicit inclusion/exclusion criteria. SETTING: Retrospective 

review of medical database. PARTICIPANTS: Participants 

with any type of medical conditions of any severity were included. MAIN OUTCOME 

MEASURES: Evidence from each systematic review. RESULTS: Ten 

systematic reviews were included. They related to a wide range of conditions. 

The primary studies and several of the reviews were associated with a high risk 

of bias. Five reviews concluded that qigong is effective and five reviews were 

inconclusive. CONCLUSION: The effectiveness 

of qigong is based mostly on poor quality research. Therefore, it would be 

unwise to draw firm conclusions at this stage.