Pediatric tuina for recurrent respiratory tract infection in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Wang X, Yin L, Bai X, Mao Z, Wang Y, Li H, Wang J · Medicine · 2023 December 22

Objective

To investigate the effects and safety of pediatric tuina for recurrent respiratory tract infections in children.

Conclusions

Pediatric tuina showed positive effects in treating recurrent respiratory tract infections, including reduced infection incidence and duration and improved immunoglobulin and cellular immune measures, without observed tuina-linked adverse reactions, although the findings should be interpreted cautiously because of study quality.

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Insights

Pediatric tuina may reduce recurrent respiratory infections in children while improving several immune markers without reported treatment-related harms.

Researchers systematically searched eight international and Chinese medical databases for randomized controlled trials examining pediatric tuina for children with recurrent respiratory tract infections. Two reviewers independently selected eligible studies, extracted data, assessed study quality using a standard bias-assessment tool, and combined findings through meta-analysis. Across the included trials, pediatric tuina was associated with fewer respiratory infections, shorter illness duration, higher overall treatment effectiveness, and improvements in several antibody and immune-cell measures. Immunoglobulin M and one type of immune cell did not differ clearly between treatment groups, and no adverse reactions attributed to tuina were reported, although limitations in study quality temper confidence in the findings.