Efficacy of Tai Chi exercise in patients with hypertension: systematic review and meta-analysis

An estimated 1.28 billion adults aged 30-79 years worldwide have hypertension, most (two-thirds) living in low- and middle-income countries. Pharmachological approaches have side effect, prompting exploration of Non-pharmacological approaches, like Tai Chi. Although early evidence suggests a potential favourable benefit with Tai Chi, it remains unclear whether the method can significantly reduced SBP and DBP. We aimed to assess by a systematic review and meta-analysis the effectiveness of Tai Chi in alleviating SBP and DBP on hypertension patients.

Our study adhered to the PRISMA method and was registered in PROSPERO under the code CRD42024496192. The search was carried out in the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases in December 2023. Five randomized controlled trials were included (a total of 568 patients). Risk of bias was employed to assess the quality of individual studies, and a random-effects model was utilized to examine the overall effect.

The results showed that Tai Chi, when compared to routine care, had a statistically significant impact on SBP ((MD = 5.49, 95 % CI: 3.44 to 7.54, p = 0.001), with a heterogeneity I² = 54%. Tai Chi did not show a significant difference in terms of DBP when compared to standard care (MD =3.18, 95 % CI: 1.89 to -4.48, p = 0.31). The included trials exhibited small sample sizes, substantial heterogeneity.

Tai Chi effectively lowers SBP levels in hypertension patients, however, did not show a statistically significant difference on DBP.