Abstract
BackgroundPrevious preliminary studies have found that qigong exercises produced significant effects in healthy people and in various clinical populations. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the effects of qigong and tai chi exercise on individuals with drug addiction.MethodsA systematic search of seven English databases and three Chinese databases was conducted to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized comparative studies (NRS) assessing the effects of qigong and tai chi on drug addiction. Study quality was assessed using the Checklist for the Evaluation of Non-Pharmaceutical Trial Reports (CLEAR-NPT).ResultsTwo RCTs and nine NRS studies were included in this study, including a total of 1072 patients with drug addiction (age range, 27–43 years). The results showed that qigong and tai chi exercise had a significant overall effect on depression (SMD = −0.353, 95%CI [−0.548, −0.159]), anxiety (SMD = −0.541, 95%CI [−0.818, −0.264]), quality of life (SMD = 0.673, 95%CI [0.438, 0.907]), and sleep quality (SMD = −0.373, 95%CI [−0.631, −0.116]). The subgroup analysis found that qigong outperformed tai chi on the improving depression, anxiety, and sleep quality.ConclusionExisting studies suggest that qigong and tai chi are effective at improving depression, anxiety, and quality of life in drug users; however, the evidence from rigorous randomized controlled group trials is lacking.
Highlights
The results showed that qigong and tai chi exercise had a significant overall effect on relieving anxiety symptoms in patients with drug addiction (SMD = −0.373, 95%CI [−0.631, −0.116]), with low heterogeneity (I2 = 8.998) (Figure 2D)
This review summarizes the effects of qigong and tai chi exercise on patients with drug addiction
We found that qigong and tai chi exercise produced a significant effect on improvement of depression and anxiety in patients with drug addiction
Summary
The World Drug Report 2020 shows that ∼35 million people worldwide are addicted to drugs [1]. Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing mental illness that afflicts millions of people [2, 3] and is closely related to the physical health of the patients. Drug addiction substantially increases the risk of suffering from various types of disease, including infectious illness, cancer, and chronic diseases [4, 5]. As the number of detoxification sessions and length of drug use increase, the mental health of patients tends to decrease [6], and their chances of developing psychiatric disorders (e.g., major depression, bipolar disorder, specific phobias, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder) increase substantially [7, 8]. Previous preliminary studies have found that qigong exercises produced significant effects in healthy people and in various clinical populations. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the effects of qigong and tai chi exercise on individuals with drug addiction
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