Impact of Various Qigong and Tai Chi Exercises on Motor Function, Depression, and Quality of Life in Parkinson’s Disease Patients: A Network Meta-Analysis

by Jiankang Zhao, Ming Yang, Ziye Li, Jun Lu, Yafei Kong, Zhuyun Tian, Changrun Zhang
* January 2025 Preprint

Abstract

Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi, as forms of exercise therapy, are suitable for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who are mainly middle-aged and elderly, and their effectiveness has been proven by an increasing number of studies. However, there is a serious issue in some previous studies, which is the misconception of considering Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi as a specific form of exercise. In fact, Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi are not single forms of exercise, but rather a general term for a category of exercises. Since the fitness effects of different types of Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi are not exactly the same, it is necessary to conduct a more specific classification of Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi and then perform a network Meta-analysis to explore the effects of different types of Fitness Qigong and Tai Chi on treating different symptoms of PD. By comprehensively collecting and organizing literature from English and Chinese databases such as Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wan Fang, with the literature search cut-off date being November 22, 2024, and extracting data from the finally included randomized controlled trials. According to the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool in the Cochrane Handbook, the methodological quality and bias risk of the included literature were evaluated using RevMan 5.4 software, and finally, Stata 18.0 software was used for network Meta-analysis. During the analysis, subgroup analyses were conducted based on different intervention types, intervention periods, Hoehn-Yahr stages, and patient disease courses to explore the sources of heterogeneity. The 35 studies included in this article involved 4 types of Fitness Qigong exercises and 4 types of Tai Chi exercises, with a total of 1,763 patients with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease. The results of the network Meta-analysis showed that compared with the conventional treatment of Parkinson’s disease, 24-Form Tai Chi Qigong (24-FTJQ) was the best treatment plan for improving UPDRS Ⅲ scores and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) scores; 42-Form Tai Chi Qigong (ATJQ) was the best treatment plan for improving Gait Velocity; Wu Qin Xi (WQX) was the best treatment plan for improving Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) scores; Ba Duan Jin (BDJ) was the best treatment plan for improving Depression scores; and Yi Jin Jing (YJJ) was the best treatment plan for improving PDQ-39 scores. Therefore, in clinical practice, more suitable exercise plans can be formulated according to the main symptoms of patients, reducing the treatment period.

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