Effectiveness of Yoga and Acupuncture in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of the studies.

Study	Country	Intervention	Control group	Sample size (n)	Patients included		Average age		Male : female ratio		Average DAS 28 before the intervention		Average DAS 28 after the intervention
					Intervention	Control	Intervention (±S)	Control (±S)	Intervention	Control	Intervention (±S)	Control (±S)	Intervention (±S)	Control (±S)
(1) Surabhi Gautam	India	Yoga	FARME	70	35	35	45.6 (7.9)	44.5 (7.7)	H : 6; M : 29	H : 8; M : 27	5.20	5.10	4.50	4.80
(2) Selvakumar Ganesan	India	Yoga	FARME	186	83	83	41.3 (9.5)	42.5 (7.1)	H : 5; M : 63	H : 7; M : 68	4.95	4.77	2.99	3.49
(3) Madhuri Tolahunasea	India	Yoga	FARME	72	36	36	45.7 (1.6)	42.1 (1.7)	H : 7; M : 29	H :  9; M :  27	5.13	4.95	4.42	4.80
(4) Wen-zhong Cao	China	Acupuncture	FARME + AINE	60	30	30	56.0 (14)	54.0 (11)	H : 6; M : 25	H : 5; M : 24	8.89	8.14	3.01	4.12
(5) Zhu Yan	China	Acupuncture	FARME + AINE	56	28	28	51.0 (13)	53.0 (13)	H : 7; M : 21	H : 7; M : 21	8.68	8.59	2.45	3.16
(6) Manoj Kumar	India	Yoga	FARME	66	33	33	45.1 (8.7)	43.9 (9.3)	H : 5; M : 28	H : 8; M : 25	5.20	5.00	4.50	4.90
(7) Xie Yu-ying	China	Acupuncture (electro)	FARME + AINE	60	30	30	51.8 (13.1)	52.1 (13.3)	H : 8; M : 22	H : 7; M :  23	8.62	8.49	2.43	3.05
(8) Atef M	Egypt	Acupuncture (laser)	Healthy patients	50	30	29	43.6 (11.3)	33.1 (11.1)	H : 4; M : 26	H : 10; M : 10	5.80	N/A	3.60	N/A

DMARDs, disease-modifying drugs; NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; DAS 28, disease activity score 28.