Faculty of Medicine of Oporto University (FMUP), Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal; Portuguese Institute of Taiji and Qigong, Urbanização da Bouça Grande, Rua E, n 102 4470-765 Maia, Portugal.
Faculty of Medicine of Oporto University (FMUP), Alameda Prof. Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal; Portuguese Institute of Taiji and Qigong, Urbanização da Bouça Grande, Rua E, n 102 4470-765 Maia, Portugal.
J Integr Med. 2019 Jul;17(4):250-260. doi: 10.1016/j.joim.2019.04.003. Epub 2019 Apr 19.
Autism spectrum disorder is a condition that affects all races, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. With a high incidence ratio of one in every 68, it has become one of the most discussed psychiatric disorders. For this reason, the need for investigating novel treatments has been emerging. Qigong, a traditional Chinese mind-body technique, has already proven to be able to reduce symptoms of several physical and psychological illnesses.
The purpose of this systematic review is to examine and categorize the current scientific evidence regarding the efficacy of Qigong on children suffering from autism spectrum disorders.
A systematic literature search of the electronic scientific databases PubMed, Clinical Trials.gov, BioMed Central, PubMed Central and Google Scholar was performed to identify studies of Qigong in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder.
This review included randomized controlled trials, replication studies, retrospective studies and observational follow-up studies of Qigong on children with autism spectrum disorder. Case reports and case series were excluded.
Two researchers independently evaluated the methodological quality of all included studies. Any discrepancies were solved by discussion until consensus was achieved.
Our literature search identified 157 publications, and 10 additional publications from hand search of references. After duplicate removal, 103 records remained. After the title/abstract screening, 19 publications were obtained for detailed evaluation. After detailed evaluation, 10 studies were included. Seven studies were conducted with small children with 2-6 years old employing Qigong massage, and three studies were conducted with older children aged 7-17 years old applying both Qigong massage (one study) and Neigong (two studies).
Studies demonstrated that Qigong has interesting and promising applicability and effect on children with autism spectrum disorder and should be tested further. Despite the need for more rigorous controlled studies, Qigong seems to be able to decrease severity of individual sensory, behavioural, and language components of autism, and improve self-control, sociability, sensory and cognitive awareness as well as healthy-physical behaviour. Besides positive effect on children and adolescents, benefits seem to extend to parents and caregivers as well. However, quality of methodology seems to be insufficient to state that Qigong is an alternative to common behavioural therapies. We suggest that, until more investigation is performed, Qigong may only be used as a complement, or when behavioural therapies are not accessible.
自闭症谱系障碍是一种影响所有种族、族裔和社会经济群体的疾病。自闭症谱系障碍的发病率为每 68 人中就有 1 人，因此成为讨论最多的精神疾病之一。出于这个原因，人们对新的治疗方法的需求也越来越大。气功是一种传统的身心技巧，已经被证明可以减轻多种身体和心理疾病的症状。
本系统综述的目的是检查和分类目前关于气功治疗自闭症谱系障碍儿童疗效的科学证据。
对电子科学数据库 PubMed、Clinical Trials.gov、BioMed Central、PubMed Central 和 Google Scholar 进行了系统的文献搜索，以确定气功治疗自闭症谱系障碍儿童的研究。
本综述包括随机对照试验、复制研究、回顾性研究和对自闭症谱系障碍儿童进行气功的观察性随访研究。病例报告和病例系列被排除在外。
两名研究人员独立评估所有纳入研究的方法学质量。任何分歧都通过讨论解决，直到达成共识。
我们的文献搜索确定了 157 篇出版物，通过参考文献的手工搜索又确定了 10 篇出版物。重复去除后，剩余 103 条记录。标题/摘要筛选后，获得了 19 篇进行详细评估。经过详细评估，纳入了 10 项研究。7 项研究针对 2-6 岁的幼儿进行，采用气功按摩，3 项研究针对 7-17 岁的大龄儿童进行，采用气功按摩（1 项研究）和内功（2 项研究）。
研究表明，气功对自闭症谱系障碍儿童具有有趣且有前途的适用性和效果，应进一步进行测试。尽管需要进行更严格的对照研究，但气功似乎能够降低自闭症个体感觉、行为和语言成分的严重程度，并改善自我控制、社交能力、感觉和认知意识以及健康行为。除了对儿童和青少年有积极影响外，益处似乎还延伸到父母和照顾者。然而，目前的研究方法质量不足以表明气功是常见行为疗法的替代疗法。我们建议，在进行更多研究之前，气功只能作为补充，或者在无法进行行为疗法时使用。
