ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2019
The Neuroscience of Nonpharmacological Traditional Chinese Therapy (NTCT) for Major Depressive Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Neurophysiological and Psychological Mechanisms of Qigong as a Treatment for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of Baduanjin Exercise on Depression Severity and Heart Rate Variability in Adults with Major Depressive Disorder: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Trial
- The effects of Baduanjin intervention on balance, lower limb strength, gait biomechanics and risks of fall among elderly.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- A network meta-analysis on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in treating patients with major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The Safety of Baduanjin Exercise: A Systematic Review.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
- Mindful Exercise (Baduanjin) as an Adjuvant Treatment for Older Adults (60 Years Old and Over) of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020Article
- The Effects of Baduanjin Qigong on Postural Stability, Proprioception, and Symptoms of Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDepression is a common disease affecting a large number of people across the world. Many researchers have focused on treatment for depression based on Western scientific approaches, but research based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) interventions, studying its clinical effectiveness and the underlying mechanisms involved, has been limited. The aim of this review is to conduct a pioneering systematic review with meta-analysis of existing studies that investigate the neuroscience basis of nonpharmacological traditional Chinese therapy (NTCT).
methodsBoth English (
resultsSix of twelve eligible studies showed that there was a significant improvement in favor of acupuncture in depressive symptoms (SMD -0.69, 95%
conclusionsAcupuncture could effectively relieve depressive syndromes. The clinical effects of acupuncture might be attributable to their influence on three proposed pathways, namely, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the locus coeruleus (LC)-immunity pathway, and the negative feedback loop of the hippocampus. Nevertheless, conclusions are limited due to the small number of studies included and the low-quality of the study designs. In the future, a cross-sectional study is needed to test the proposed plausible pathways. PROSPERO registration number is CRD42017080937.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.