• Journal of Dental Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.183-205
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• 2021

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to analyze the effectiveness of maxillary stabilization splint (SS) therapy to reduce headache (HA) intensity and HA frequency in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD)-HA comorbidity. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using full-arch coverage, hard resin, and maxillary SS therapy were included. Electronic databases, including Cochrane Library, MEDLINE through PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE, were searched. The risk of bias was analyzed based on Cochrane's handbook. The search yielded 247 references up to January 28, 2020. Nine RCTs were included at a high risk of bias. The comparison groups included other splints, counseling, jaw exercises, medications, neurologic treatment, and occlusal equilibration. Four studies reported a statistically significant reduction in HA intensity, and five studies reported significant improvement in HA frequency from baseline at 2-12 months in patients with TMD-HA comorbidity treated with a full-arch hard maxillary SS. HA frequency in tension-type HA (TTH) comorbid with TMD diagnoses of myofascial pain (MFP) or capsulitis/synovitis improved significantly with SS than that with full-arch maxillary non-occluding splint (NOS) in two studies. Comparison groups receiving hard partial-arch maxillary splint nociceptive trigeminal inhibition (NTI) showed statistically significant improvements in HA intensity in patients with mixed TMD phenotypes of MFP and disc displacement comorbid with "general HA." Comparison groups receiving partial-arch maxillary resilient/soft splint (Relax) showed significant improvements in both HA intensity and frequency in patients with HA concomitant with MFP. The meta-analysis showed no statistically significant difference in the improvement of pain intensity at 2-3 months with comparison of the splints (partial-arch soft [Relax], hard [NTI], and full-arch NOS) or splint use compliance at 6-12 months with comparison of the splints (partial-arch Relax and full-arch NOS) versus the SS groups in patients with various TMD-HA comorbidities. In conclusion, although SS therapy showed a statistically significant decrease in HA intensity and HA frequency when reported, the evidence quality was low due to the high bias risk and small sample size. Therefore, further studies are required.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.74-99
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• 2020

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness and safety of Socheongryong-tang(SCRT) for allergic rhinitis(AR). Methods : We searched randomized controlled trials(RCTs) that used SCRT for AR in 8 databases(PubMed, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CiNii Articles, OASIS, NDSL, KISS, KMbase) from their inception until August 2019. The primary outcome was effective rate and scores evaluating the improvement of AR symptoms. The secondary outcome was quality of life scale, adverse events, recurrence rate, and laboratory indicators. Two researchers assessed the risk of bias in the included trials through the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool independently. The study synthesized outcomes using RevMan 5.3. Results : Eighteen RCTs involving 1686 participants were included in this review. The risk of bias was unclear for the majority of the included studies. Meta-analysis of 12 RCTs showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the SCRT group and usual care group in the effective rate(RR 1.18, 95% CI(0.98, 1.41), p=0.09, I²=46%). Meta-analysis of 5 RCTs showed that the combination treatment group of SCRT and usual care was significantly higher than the usual care group in the effective rate(RR 1.24, 95% CI(1.12, 1.38), p<0.0001, I²=0%). The SCRT group was more effective in improving nasal symptoms and quality of life than the placebo group according to one RCT. Mild adverse events such as dry mouth were identified in 5 RCTs, but no serious adverse events were reported. Conclusion : This review showed that in terms of the effective rate for AR, there was no statistically significant difference between SCRT and usual care and the combination treatment of SCRT and usual care was more effective than usual care. There were no serious adverse events. However, it is difficult to make a definite conclusion because of few included studies and heterogeneity between studies, and the quality of included studies was mostly insufficient. Further well-designed randomized controlled trials are needed.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.77-84
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• 2022

Objectives This study is designed to identify the effectiveness of herbal medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis. Methods We will investigate 10 databases, 4 Korean databases (KoreaMed, KMBASE, Koreanstudies Information Service System [KISS], ScienceOn) and 6 of abroad (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI], WanFang, Citation Information by NII [CiNii]) without publication date, language limitation for clinical study of herbal medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis. Type, dose, duration, frequency of herb medicine will be analyzed. Results Randomized controlled trials about herbal medicine or herb extract for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis should be included in the study. Cochrane's risk of bias tools will be used to assess quality of the study. Mean differences or standardized mean differences of 95% confidence intervals will calculated and data synthesis will be conducted using Review Manager (RevMan, ver.5.3; The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark). Conclusions It is expected to provide basic data for the active use of herb medicine by systematically synthesizing and analyzing the actual situation, effectiveness, and safety of herb medicine for osteoporosis in rheumatoid arthritis.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.44-62
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• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of herbal medicine for recovery and treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) after loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP). Methods: We searched two english, one chinese and four korean database up to November 4, 2019. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible. Primary outcome included Human papilloma virus (HPV) clearance rate and the effective ratio of treatment. And vaginal bleeding time and volume, improvement of symptoms, and recovery of wound were regarded as secondary outcomes. The risk of bias was assessed by two independent authors using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: Of 47 screened, 10 RCTs were included. Number of participants per study ranged from 58 to 360. The studies which used HPV clearance rate as primary outcome were considered as low risk of bias. Most of the studies had considerable heterogeneity in terms of type of intervention, comparison and time-points for outcome measurement. Compared to LEEP alone, herbal vaginal suppository combined group showed favorable results for HPV clearance in patients (5 studies, n=627, 95% CI 1.26 to 1.55, I²=75%). And compared to LEEP alone, herbal external application also showed favorable results for HPV clearance in patients (2 studies, n=252, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.61, I²=86%). Three studies reported mild and temporary adverse events, and no serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The studies showed that herbal medicine can significantly effective on recovery of CIN after LEEP. However, included studies suffered from incomplete reporting, high or unclear risk of bias and substantial heterogeneity between studies. In the Future, further high-quality RCTs are needed to prove effectiveness of herbal medicine for CIN after LEEP and reduce the risk of bias.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.147-156
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• 2015

Objectives : This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Korean medicine for a thoracolumbar compression fracture. Methods : We searched six Korean databases (DBPIA, Korean Studies Information Service System, Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System, National Digital Science Library, Research Information Sharing Service, KoreaMed) (up to June 2015) and the Journal of Korean Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society. Unpublished studies were also searched. Clinical research, other than case reports involving less than 10 patients, were eligible. The effectiveness and safety of Korean Medicine was analyzed. The 'Risk of Bias' was assessed using the 'Risk of Bias' assessment tool for non-randomized studies as well as the Cochrane Collaboration's 'Risk of Bias' tool. Results : We found 12 before-after studies (374 patients). There was no randomized trial. All studies combined at least three different types of Korean medicine treatments. The period of treatment varied between less a week and 154 days. All the included studies reported improvements in pain, functional disability related to lower back pain, global assessment, and benefits in the compression ratio of a fractured vertebrae and skin temperature measured by digital infrared thermal imaging in comparison with the baseline. However, all studies had a high risk of bias and three studies reported mild adverse events. Conclusions : There is no randomized trial for the role of Korean medicine for patients with a thoracolumbar compression fracture. The effectiveness and safety of Korean medicine for this population remains unclear. Findings in this review are seriously biased due to observational design and a high risk of bias included in the studies. Future high-quality randomized trials are warranted.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.136-147
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of integrated palliative care intervention on quality of life in terminally ill patients. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed via PubMed, Cochrane Library CENTRAL, LWW (Ovid), CINAHL and several Korean databases. The main search strategy was to combine terms indicating palliative care intervention, presence of terminal illness and study design. Methodological quality was assessed using Cochrane's Risk of Bias for randomized studies and Risk of Bias Assessment tool for non-randomized studies. Data were analyzed by the Stata 10 program. Results: Eight clinical trials met the inclusion criteria with a total of 356 participants. Integrated palliative care interventions were administered for a mean of 6.5 weeks, 5.6 sessions and an average of 47.8 minutes per session. Effect sizes were heterogeneous, and subgroup analysis was done. Integrated palliative care interventions had a significant effect on quality of life (ES=1.83, P=0.018, $l^2=92%$), spiritual well-being (ES=0.78, P=0.040, $l^2=0$), depression (ES=0.86, P<0.001, $l^2=32$) and anxiety (ES=0.69, P=0.041, $l^2=71.1$). But integrated palliative care interventions had no significant effect on pain (ES=0.365, P=0.230, $l^2=69.8$). Conclusion: Results support findings that integrated palliative care interventions were helpful in lessening depression and anxiety and improving quality of life and spiritual well-being, however, the interventions did not assist pain management in terminal cancer patients. These findings suggest that various integrated palliative care interventions can assist terminal cancer patients with better quality of life in the socio-psycho-spiritual dimension.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.75-101
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• 2021

Objectives: ncluding stroke. The aim of this study was to systematically review the clinical evidence of CT for stroke. Methods: To identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting the effectiveness and/or safety of CT, seven databases including PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched for articles published from January 2000 to February 2021 without language restrictions. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.4 software and the results were presented as mean difference (MD) or standard mean difference (SMD) for continuous variables and odds ratio (OR) for diverse variables with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Assessment of the methodological quality of the eligible trials was conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration tool for risk of bias in RCTs. Results: Twenty-two RCTs with 1653 participants were included in the final analysis. CT provided additional benefit in improving upper limb motor function (Fugl-Meyer assessment for upper limb motor function, MD 6.91, 95% CI 4.64 to 1.67, P<0.00001) and spasticity (response rate, OR 3.28, 95% CI 1.31 to 8.22, P=0.08) in stroke survivors receiving conventional medical treatment. These findings were supported with a moderate level of evidence. CT did not significantly increase the occurrence of adverse events. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the potential of CT to be beneficial in managing a variety of complications in stroke survivors. However, to compensate for the shortcomings of the existing evidence, rigorously designed large-scale RCTs are warranted in the future.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Objective: This study was undertaken to systematically assess and summarize the effects of acupuncture on cortisol secretion. Materials and methods: We searched articles published up to May 2010 in six electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, KISS, KISTI, DBPIA, Kyobo Scholar). Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) which met all the inclusion criteria were reviewed. Eight RCTs were finally selected for this systematic review and assessed by three reviewers. The risk of bias was also estimated by using the Cochrane criteria. Results: Six RCTs reported no distinct difference of cortisol levels between control and experimental groups. Two RCTs reported significant differences of cortisol levels between groups; one reported the acupuncture group with markedly higher concentrations of cortisol while the other reported the opposite result. Conclusion: There are some difficulties in clearly identifying the effects of acupuncture on cortisol levels in this systematic review due to inconsistent results. Therefore, more rigorous trials with larger scales need to be conducted to clarify the effects of acupuncture on cortisol levels.

• Journal of Convergence Korean Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to review the effects of Daoyin exercise on scoliosis in clinical studies. Methods: In this study, we reviewed 9 electronic databases (Pubmed, CAJ, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CiNii, KISS, KMBASE, OASIS, ScienceON) on May 22, 2021. We included only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which evaluated the effect of Daoyin exercise on scolisos. The methodological quality of the included studies was checked using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: After screening, eight RCTs fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The results of the meta-analysis showed that Daoyin exercise improves the measurement value of Cobb's angle, SRS-22, pulmoary function, physiological curvature, muscle strength, effective rate in scoliosis patients. Conclusion: We concluded that Daoyin exercise has therapeutic effects in relief of imbalance, improvement of symptoms, improvement of function, muscle strength for scoliosis. However, the quality of the original articles was low and the number of papers included were few. Thus, to confirm these results, further well-designed RCTs should be conducted.