Moxibustion for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of included randomized controlled trials for IBS-D.

Study; year	Number of patients	Publishing language	Diagnostic criteria	Criteria for improvement in overall IBS-D symptoms	Time point for outcome assessment	Moxibustion treatment(s)	Control treatment(s)
Ni and Lu; 2001 [12]	56	English	Negative GI investigations and standards for clinical diagnosis for IBS from 1986; National conference for chronic diarrhea	Change of total IBS symptom score (predefined)	15 days (EoT)	Fixed points	Nifedipinum, 10 mg t.i.d.
Zhang et al.; 2007 [16]	60	Chinese	Rome II	≥30% improvement in global IBS symptoms	2 weeks (EoT)	Ginger-partitioned and fixed points	Diet, psychiatric, and antidiarrheal therapy Enterosoluble glutamine 0.4 g t.i.d. or Smecta 3 g t.i.d. or probiotics 630 mg t.i.d.
Jin; 2009 [17]	78	Chinese	Rome II	≥30% improvement in global IBS symptoms	30 days (EoT)	Traditional Chinese ointments-partitioned and fixed points	Berberine hydrochloride 2 tablets t.i.d.
Sheng et al.; 2011 [18]	40	English	Rome III	≥30% improvement in global IBS symptoms	4 weeks (EoT and 1-month follow-up)	Herbal cone-partitioned and fixed points	Pinaverium bromide 50 mg t.i.d.
Chu et al.; 2011 [19]	60	Chinese	Rome II and TCM criteria	≥30% improvement in global IBS symptoms	15 days (EoT)	Syndrome differentiation and treatment	Loperamide 2 mg b.i.d.
Chen and Wang; 2013 [20]	64	Chinese	Rome III	≥50% improvement in global IBS symptoms	30 days (EoT)	Fixed points	Trimebutine maleate tablets 100 mg t.i.d.
Ma et al.; 2013 [21]	210	English	Rome III	GSRS total score	4 weeks (EoT)	Medicamental pulverata-partitioned and fixed points	Pinaverium bromide 50 mg t.i.d.

IBS-D: diarrhea-predominant IBS; t.i.d.: three times a day; GSRS: gastrointestinal symptom rating scale; EoT: end of treatment; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine.