• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.37-46
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• 2021

Objective : This study aims to examine the effectiveness and safety of herbal medicines in upper respiratory tract infection by conducting systematic review against amoxicillin. Methods : Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published by December 2020 were searched in PubMED database. Study selection was conducted according to the PRISMA guideline. The Risk of Bias of the RCTs were evaluated based on the Cochrane criteria. Study selection and bias assessment were conducted independently by two researchers, and the third party was involved if there is a disagreement. Results : Three RCTs were included. Meta-analysis was not performed due to different specific disease and outcome measurements among the included studies. Herbal medicine showed statistically significant improvement in symptoms and endoscopic findings compared to amoxicillin in acute rhinosinusitis. In addition, herbal medicine showed statistically significant improvement in symptoms and a smaller dose of additional antibiotics in acute tonsillitis. However, herbal medicine showed no significant effects compared to amoxicillin in chronic sinusitis patients after functional endoscopic sinus surgery. In terms of adverse events, no significant difference was observed between the herbal medicine group and the amoxicillin group in all studies. Conclusion : Herbal medicine might be more effective than amoxicillin in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infection. Nevertheless, it is hard to clear that conclusion due to the fact that the collected studies were conducted on different specific diseases and herbal medicine, and that the included studies had flaws in the research methodology.

• The Journal of Korean society of community based occupational therapy
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.77-89
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• 2018

Objective : The purpose of this study was to analyze occupational therapy intervention on the community mobility for stroke patients, and to provide evidence of intervention in the clinical fields. Methods : A systematic review was executed according to the PRISMA checklist. The accessed database was PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), ProQuest Dissertations & thesis (PQDT), RISS, and KoreaMed. We included the articles published from 2005 to September 2018. RoBANS checklist was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Included articles, totally eight, were categorized according to the type of intervention. Results : The study design of the literature was varied from two-group randomized trial, quasi-experimental study, case-control trial, one group pre-post comparison study, and cross-sectional study. In the evidence level, 6 articles were included in level II (75%). The percentage of low risk of bias in each article ranged from 52.5%~87.5%. Four studies (50%) provided intervention based on virtual reality or virtual environment. The three (37.5%) provided intervention based on the protocol, and the other (12.5%) did wheelchair training. All studies reported significant effects of the intervention. Conclusion : This systematic review provided evidences to use proper intervention in the clinical fields. Various type of studies should be conducted to prove the effect of occupational therapy intervention for community mobility.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.178-192
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• 2020

Objectives: The present study aimed to compare the impacts of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and behavioral treatment (BT) on weight loss and psychological outcomes among patients with three different subtypes of obesity: simple obesity, obesity with binge eating disorder, and obesity with depression. Methods: Embase, PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Research Information Sharing Service, and Korean Studies Information Service System were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials conducted on or before May 2020, that used CBT to treat obesity. Methodological quality was assessed using Cochrane's risk of bias tool 2 and publication bias was evaluated through the funnel plot using the trim and fill method, Egger's test, and Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation test. A meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model and the standardized mean difference with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine effect size. Results: Twenty-one randomized controlled trials with a total of 22 intervention arms and 2,590 patients were included. Our study results revealed that the effects of CBT, compared with BT, on weight loss distinctly differed across all patient subgroups. In the simple obesity group, CBT was more effective than BT (Hedges' g=0.138, CI=0.012~0.264); however, in the obesity with binge eating disorder group, BT was more effective than CBT (Hedges' g=-0.228, CI=-0.418~-0.038); in the obesity with depression group, the effect of CBT was not statistically different from that of BT (Hedges' g=0.276, CI=-0.307~0.859). Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to confirm the outcomes observed in this study. Conclusions: Our results indicated that the effects of CBT on obesity treatment vary based on patient subtype. Therefore, our findings suggest that CBT or BT should be selectively recommended as a treatment strategy for different obesity subtypes.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.135-148
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• 2023

Objectives To investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of post-disaster musculoskeletal pain by reviewing relevant clinical studies. Methods A systematic search was conducted across 10 electronic databases to identify relevant clinical studies on acupuncture treatment for post-disaster musculoskeletal pain until May 2023. The methodological quality was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 and Risk of Bias Assessment tool for non-randomized studies tools. Results Six articles were analyzed, including two randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two before-after studies, one qualitative research, and one case series. Overall, acupuncture therapy showed some improvement in pain scale among musculoskeletal pain survivors. However, no significant improvement was observed in the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ-2). Subgroup analysis of participants who completed at least four acupuncture sessions revealed a significant effect on the SFMPQ-2. Additionally, a significant improvement in 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF36P) was observed after 6 months of treatment, but the 2-month treatment period did not show statistically significant effects on SF-36P improvement. The evaluation of the methodological quality of the RCTs identified some concerns of bias. Conclusions The results suggest that acupuncture is effective in alleviating post-disaster musculoskeletal pain. However, considering the limited number of selected studies and the inclusion of subjective evaluation measures, caution should be exercised in interpreting the results. Further large-scale follow-up studies are needed to determine the optimal frequency and duration of acupuncture treatment. Well-designed controlled trials should be conducted to provide more robust evidence regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture for post-disaster musculoskeletal pain.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.93-104
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• 2023

Life expectancy is increasing due to the aging of the population, which is in turn exacerbating problems such as the prevalence of various geriatric diseases. This study was established to provide basic data for the expansion of forest healing activities for the elderly by systematically analyzing the literature on how such activities affect this age group. For the collection of studies, the Korean databases RISS, KISS, Korea Med, and Science On were used, while PubMed, Cochrane Central, MDPI, and Google Scholar were used to identify reports published elsewhere. To assess the quality of the methodology used in the collected studies, the risk of bias was analyzed using Cochrane's RoB2 and RoBANS. Among 1,856 reports initially identified, 21 were finally selected for analysis in this study, which were limited to research papers on forest healing activities for the elderly published between 2000 and January 2022. In this review, the subjects were those aged 60 or older, with a total of 750 participants, ranging from at least 7 to a maximum of 88 per study. The analysis showed that the most frequently performed tests in each category were on depression as a psychological indicator in 7 studies, MMSE(Mini Mental State Examination) as a cognitive indicator in 2 studies, on blood pressure as a physiological indicator in 4 studies, on melatonin as a biochemical indicator in 2 studies, and on body fat and muscle strength as physical indicators in 3 studies. Of the 21 studies, 19 used two or more test items, with psychological indicators being most commonly measured. For the future application of forest healing activities for the elderly, various forest healing programs to prevent cognitive function decline should be developed and distributed, and follow-up studies should be continuously presented to provide the basis for forest healing activities.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.520-530
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the effects of music therapy on cognitive function, agitation, anxiety and depression in the elderly with dementia. Method: A comprehensive literature search was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, Google scholar and PsycINFO, for the period 2010 to 2019. In the meta-analysis, the standardized mean difference (Hedges' g) and 95% confidence interval were calculated as summary measure, and the random effect model and inverse variance method were applied using the RevMan 5.4 program. A total of 13 studies were included; all were determined to be acceptable, based on the Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias. Results: The effect size (Hedges' g) was 0.31 (95% CI: -0.02, 0.65) for cognition and -0.03 (95% CI: -0.17, 0.11) for agitation behavior as the primary outcomes, and 0.61 (95% CI: -1.17, -0.05) for anxiety and -0.44(95% CI: -0.88, 0.00) for depression as the secondary outcomes. Subgroup analysis by type of music intervention revealed that combined music therapy has a significantly increasing beneficial effect on cognition of dementia patients (g=0.45[95% CI: 0.03, 0.87]). Conclusion: Music therapy was determined to exert beneficial effects in reducing anxiety and depression, and combined music therapy demonstrated improved cognitive functions in elderly patients with dementia.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.22-43
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of Cheonmagudeung-eum (CGE) for essential hypertension by systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The period of literature search was until October 30, 2016, and 14 electronic databases were utilized as search engines. The evaluation for the risk of bias (RoB) was conducted by using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The meta-analysis was performed by synthesizing outcome data, including total effective rate (TER), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and the incidence of adverse events. Result: There were a total of 64 RCTs using CGE on adult essential hypertension. In the RoB evaluation, most of the items were unclear, and the qualities of studies were rated low. The concurrent treatment of CGE and antihypertensive drug (AHD) showed a significant hypotensive effect since the risk ratio (RR) of TER was 1.17 times (95% CI 1.14, 1.20, p<0.01) higher than that of AHD alone. In addition, the mean difference (MD) appeared low as 8.73 mm/Hg in SBP (95% CI -11.36, -6.09, p<0.01) and 5.81 mm/Hg in DBP (95% CI -7.50, -4.12, p<0.01). Conclusion: Through this study, it was identified that the combined treatment of CGE and AHD on hypertension would be more effective than that of AHD treatment alone. However, due to the low quality of the selected original articles, the significance of this conclusion is somewhat limited, and we hope that this would be complemented through more rigorous RCTs in the future.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.542-558
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of Yigong-san on anorexia in children by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: Eleven electronic databases were searched on May 30, 2022 to collect relevant studies. All studies published up to the search date were considered. RCTs reporting the effect of Yigong-san on the treatment of anorexia in children were included. The primary outcome was an improvement in clinical anorexia symptoms after treatment. In this meta-analysis, continuous and binary outcomes were assessed, and the data were presented as the mean difference and risk ratio with their 95% confidence intervals. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool. Results: A total of nine studies were included in this systematic review. The treatment group (Yigong-san only or Yigong-san plus conventional treatment) showed a statistically significant effect compared to the control group (conventional treatment only) in total effective rate (Yigong-san only: RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.17, 1.36, I²=0%; Yigong-san plus conventional treatment: RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.18, 1.47, I²=0%), clinical symptoms, some of the anthropometric outcomes, and biological markers related to appetite and growth in children with anorexia. No serious adverse events related to Yigong-san were reported. Conclusions: Yigong-san showed statistically significant effects as a treatment for anorexia in children. However, the number of studies included in the meta-analysis was insufficient, and the herbs contained in the Yigong-san used in the included studies were not standardized. Future research should focus on the implementation of methodologically robust clinical research.

• Journal of Convergence Korean Medicine
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

Objectives: Smoking had a long negative impact on public health. The ingredients of a cigarette are major risk factors for several diseases. Owing to the problems about economic and quality of life, we need to ensure smoking cessation (SC). There are several approaches for SC including pharmacological therapy, nicotine replacement therapy, education, and behavioral intervention. However, due to some limitations, other alternative approaches are gaining popularity. Acupuncture has been reported to have few side effects and be more effective than some conventional treatments in several articles. However, there are no systematic reviews on the comparison of acupuncture combination treatment with other conventional monotherapies. Methods: Randomized controlled trials that used acupuncture as an adjunct treatment for SC will be searched and data will be summarized according to the predefined criteria. The primary outcome will be the abstinence rate, and secondary outcomes will be adverse events and biochemical indicators. We will use Review Manager to perform a meta-analysis, Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias tool for the risk of bias assessment, and the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach to determine the quality of evidence. We will investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combination treatment for SC with this study. Ethics and dissemination: This study will provide reliable clinical evidence on additional effect of acupuncture on smoking cessation. We will publish our results in a peer-review journal.