Moxibustion for essential hypertension

The objective of this review was to assess the current clinical evidence of moxibustion for essential hypertension (EH). 7 electronic databases were searched until March 2013. Randomized clinical trials testing moxibustion, or combined with antihypertensive drugs, against antihypertensive drugs alone were included. Study selection, data extraction, quality assessment, and data analyses were conducted according to the Cochrane standards. Finally, 5 randomized trials were included. The methodological quality of the included trials was evaluated as generally low. As compared to antihypertensive drugs, no positive results in BP (RR: 1.19 [0.50, 2.81]; P = 0.70), was found about moxibustion. However, when combined with antihypertensive drugs, positive results in SBP (WMD: −9.57 [−10.80, −8.34]; P < 0.00001), DBP (WMD: −4.08 [−4.60, −3.56]; P < 0.00001), and BP (RR: 3.35 [1.03, 10.89]; P = 0.04) were found about moxibustion plus antihypertensive drugs. Most of the trials did not report adverse events, and the safety of moxibustion is still uncertain. Therefore, no confirm conclusion about the effectiveness and safety of moxibustion as adjunctive treatment for EH could be made. Rigorously designed trials are needed to confirm the evidence.