Moxibustion for the Correction of Nonvertex Presentation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 1

Main characteristics of included RCTs.

Study	Study design	Patient population	Treatment group	Control group	Outcome measures
Yang et al. [16]	Parallel 2-arm	296 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67; twice daily, 30 min each time, 15 min each side; 7 d course (𝑛=147)	Knee-chest therapy; twice daily, 15 min each time (𝑛=149)	NCPCT
Cardini and Weixin [17]	Parallel 2-arm	260 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67; first 87 subjects once daily for 1 week, next 43 women twice daily for 7 d; 30 min each time, 15 min each side (𝑛=130)	Observation; once or twice daily for 30 min each time, 15 min each side (𝑛=130)	(i) NCPDE; (ii) NCPCT; (iii) CS; (iv) UO; (v) AS; (vi) PD; (vii) PRM; (viii) IFD
Cardini et al. [18]	Parallel 2-arm	123 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67; twice daily, 30 min each time, 15 min each side for 1 or 2 wk (𝑛=65)	Observation (𝑛=58)	(i) NCPCT; (ii) PRM; (iii) PA
Do et al. [19]	Parallel 2-arm	20 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67; twice daily, 20 min each time, 10 min each side for 10 d (𝑛=10)	Usual antenatal care for 10 d (𝑛=10)	(i) NCPDE; (ii) CS; (iii) AS; (iv) PD; (v) PRM
Guittier et al. [20]	Parallel 2-arm	212 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67; three times weekly; 20 min each time, 10 min each side for 2 wk (𝑛=106)	Expectant management care (𝑛=106)	(i) NCPDE; (ii) CS; (iii) AS; (iv) CBPH
Vas et al. [21]	Parallel 3-arm	270 participants	Moxibustion at BL67; 20 min each time, 2 wk (𝑛=136)	Knee-chest therapy; 20 min each time, 2 wk (𝑛=134)	(i) NCPDE; (ii) CS; (iii) PD
Yang [22]	Parallel 2-arm	206 participants	Moxibustion at bilateral BL67 + knee-chest therapy; 15–20 min, twice daily, 7 d course for 1 wk (𝑛=103)	Knee-chest therapy, 15–20 min each time, twice daily, 7 d course for 1 wk (𝑛=103)	NCPCT

d: day, wk: week, NCPDE: number of cephalic presentations at delivery (excluding external cephalic version), NCPCT: number of cephalic presentations after cessation of treatment, CS: cesarean section, UO: use of oxytocin, AS: Apgar scores <7 at 5 min, PD: preterm delivery, PA: placental abruption, PRM: premature rupture of membranes, IFD: intrauterine fetal death, CBPH: cord blood pH less than 7.1.