title: Traditional Chinese Exercise for Cardiovascular Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Traditional Chinese exercise (TCE) has widespread use for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease; however, there appears to be no consensus about the benefits of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effects of TCE for patients with cardiovascular disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relevant studies were searched by PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. We covered only published articles with randomized controlled trials. The outcome measures included physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression. A total of 35 articles with 2249 cardiovascular disease patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. The pooling revealed that TCE could decrease systolic blood pressure by 9.12 mm Hg (95% CI -16.38 to -1.86, P=0.01) and diastolic blood pressure by 5.12 mm Hg (95% CI -7.71 to -2.52, P<0.001). Patients performing TCE also found benefits compared with those in the control group in terms of triglyceride (standardized mean difference -0.33, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.09, P=0.006), 6-minute walk test (mean difference 59.58 m, 95% CI -153.13 to 269.93, P=0.03), Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire results (mean difference -17.08, 95% CI -23.74 to -10.41, P<0.001), 36-Item Short Form physical function scale (mean difference 0.82, 95% CI 0.32-1.33, P=0.001), and Profile of Mood States depression scale (mean difference -3.02, 95% CI -3.50 to -2.53, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that TCE can effectively improve physiological outcomes, biochemical outcomes, physical function, quality of life, and depression among patients with cardiovascular disease. More high-quality randomized controlled trials on this topic are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Shangti Orthopaedic Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Qiang
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Shanghai Punan Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Pi
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China chenpeijie@sus.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pei-Jie
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Health Sciences of Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Health Sciences of Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ru
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bing-Lin
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Therapy Center, Hainan Province Nongken General Hospital, Haikou, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Second School of Clinical Medical, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Health Sciences of Ministry of Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhan-Bin
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Niu
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003863:Depression / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D011788:Quality of Life; D026302:Tai Ji; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008055:Lipids
keywords: cardiovascular disease; exercise; meta‐analysis; rehabilitation