The main contribution of this research paper is to summarize the results of Meta-analysis of moxibustion in the treatment of infantile diarrhea which is one the common disease and requires considerable attention from the research community and funding organizations. In order to verify that the proposed scheme has merits, a comprehensive searching methodology was adopted by considering various databases such as China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Network Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Pub Med Database, Google Academic, and Cochrane Library. It is important to note that a powerful computer has been utilized to carry out this searching. Finally, only those literature contents are selected which meet the inclusion criteria. Likewise, exclusion criteria was used to exclude irrelevant contents of the literature. RevMan 5.3 was used to analyze the collected data and after reading the titles and abstracts, 29 well-designed studies were selected. Through searching the full text, reading literature, and quality evaluation, 17 papers were finally included. Response rates were reported in all 17 studies, and subgroup analysis was performed based on whether or not other therapies were combined. 7 studies compared the effectiveness of simple moxibustion and conventional therapy in the treatment of infantile diarrhea, and the results showed statistically significant differences [OR = 4.01, 95% CI (2.03, 7.84), P < 0.0001]; 10 studies compared the effectiveness of moxibustion combined with other therapies and conventional therapies in the treatment of diarrhea in children, and the results showed that the difference had general meaning [OR = 4.45, 95% CI (2.83, 7.10), P < 0.00001]. The funnel plot (in Figure) showed that the distribution of included studies was asymmetrical on both sides of the baseline, which could be considered as publication bias. Traditional Chinese medicine moxibustion could effectively relieve the symptoms of infantile diarrhea, and the effect was significant.
Read full abstract