Efficacy of Appropriate Techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Physical Therapy in Patients With Insulin-Associated Lipohypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and physical therapy on the lipohypertrophy (LH) people by conducting meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). METHODS: We performed a literature search on China Knowledge Network Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, VIP.com, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov in June 30, 2024, for RCTs. Standardized mean difference (SMD) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated. Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias analyses were also conducted. RESULTS: A total of 31 RCTs involving 3496 participants with LH were included in this analysis. Meta-analyses revealed that appropriate TCM interventions significantly improved the curative effect in individuals with LH (OR = 5.52; 95% CI: 3.98-7.65; p < 0.0001). Furthermore, preliminary analyses suggested potential benefits of the TCM intervention on HbA1c levels (SMD = -0.42; 95% CI: -0.63 to -0.22; p < 0.0001), as well as on fasting blood glucose (FBG) and 2-h postload plasma glucose levels. CONCLUSION: The present meta-analysis suggests that appropriate technology of TCM intervention was effective in improving the curative effect, HbA1c level, FBG, and 2hPG. Physical therapy may be effective for the treatment of LH. However, the quality of the included RCTs for appropriate technology of TCM is low to moderate and the number of RCTs for physical therapy is limited.