Journal of rehabilitation medicine | 2021
Effect of tai chi on glycaemic control, lipid metabolism and body composition in adults with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis and systematic review.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE\nThe aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of tai chi on metabolic control and body composition indicators in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.\n\n\nDESIGN\nSystematic review and meta-analysis of existing literature.\n\n\nMETHODS\nElectronic resource databases were searched to collect eligible studies. Two reviewers selected studies and independently evaluated methodological quality.\n\n\nRESULTS\nTwenty-three studies were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that tai chi had significant effects in improving metabolic indices, such as fasting blood glucose (mean difference (MD)\u2009=\u2009-1.04; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) -1.42. 0.66; p\u2009<\u20090.01) and total cholesterol (MD\u2009=\u2009-0.50; 95% CI -0.86 to -0.13; p\u2009<\u20090.01) compared with conventional clinical therapy. Most indices did not support the use of tai chi over aerobic exercise, except for glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) (MD\u2009=\u2009-0.24; 95% CI -0.49 to 0.00; p\u2009<\u20090.01) and high-density lipoprotein (MD\u2009=\u20090.07; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.12; p\u2009<\u20090.01).\n\n\nCONCLUSION\nTai chi had better effects on metabolic control and body composition indicators than clinical conventional therapy, but the effects on HbA1c and high-density lipoprotein were only superior to aerobic exercise. The best time-window for tai chi intervention may differ with different metabolic indices.