Efficacy and safety of chiropractic therapy in infantile anorexia: A systematic review

IntroductionInfantile anorexia is clinically characterized by poor or loss of appetite and arises in the first 3 years of life and appears to be increasing. In TCM, chiropractic therapy is used for this condition. A systematic review of the efficacy and safety of chiropractic therapy for the treatment of anorexia in infants was performed in order to provide a scientific basis for its clinical application.MethodsTwo review authors independently searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang databases, Chinese VIP Information, PubMed database and Manual, Alternative and Natural Therapy Index System (MANTIS) from inception to May 2015. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of infants or children (≤14 years of age) with anorexia were included. The methodological quality of trials was assessed in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review of Interventions, Version 5.0.1. We used Revman 5.1 software provided by the Cochrane Collaboration for data analyses. In addition, a funnel plot was used to evaluate publication bias.ResultsA total of five RCTs and 371 participants were included in the systematic review. The homogeneity of the five trials was very good. Combined effects showed OR = 6.90, 95%CI(3.02, 15.77), and the test of combined effect showed Z = 4.58, P < 0.00001. The differences were statistically significant. These results showed that chiropractic therapy was superior to the control group, and it was effective for the treatment of infantile anorexia. The funnel plot was symmetric, and the study bias was relatively small.ConclusionsChiropractic therapy in infantile anorexia was superior to traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine treatment. However, the quality of trials included was low. Therefore, more rigorous studies with high-quality trials and large samples were needed to prove the benefit of chiropractic therapy and provide high levels of evidence.