• Gaofeng Wang, Hongyu Ju, Zepeng Zhang, Xingquan Wu, Heli Niu, Lili Zhang, Lili Chen, Huijuan Lou, and Yonggang Yang.
• Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Baicheng Medical College, Baicheng, Jilin Province, China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2025 Jan 10; 104 (2): e41074e41074.

BackgroundThis study aimed to assess the comparative effectiveness of massage combined with lifestyle intervention and lifestyle intervention alone in patients with simple obesity.MethodsThe PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP Database, and Wanfang Data were searched. Meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Primary outcomes were body weight (BW) and body mass index (BMI). Secondary outcomes were waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting insulin (FINS), and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and adverse events.ResultsThirteen randomized controlled trials were included. The meta-analysis showed that massage combined with lifestyle intervention significantly decreased BW (mean difference [MD]: -4.85; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -8.25 to -1.46; P = .005), BMI (MD: -2.65; 95% CI: -4.05 to -1.24; P = .0002), WC (MD: -3.63; 95% CI: -6.28 to -0.98; P = .007), TC (MD: -0.52; 95% CI: -0.84 to -0.20; P = .001), TG (MD: -0.23; 95% CI: -0.45 to -0.02; P = .003), LDL-C (MD: -0.48; 95% CI: -0.54 to -0.42; P < .00001), HDL-C (MD: -0.11; 95% CI: -0.17 to -0.05; P = .0004), FINS (MD: -1.64; 95% CI: -3.16 to -0.12; P = .03), and HOMA-IR (MD: -0.42; 95% CI: -0.65 to -0.18; P = .0005) compared with lifestyle intervention alone. In subgroup analyses, more obvious reduction in BMI (P = .02, I2 = 80.3%) for the children and adolescents subgroup, more obvious reduction in HC (P = .04, I2 = 76.1%) for the adults subgroup, more significant reduction in TC (P < .00001, I2 = 98.3%), LDL-C (P < .00001, I2 = 95.6%), and HDL-C (P < .0001, I2 = 94.1%) for intermittent treatment subgroup and more significant reduction in TC (P < .00001, I2 = 95.9%) and HDL-C (P < .0001, I2 = 94.1%) for treatment times ≤30 subgroup were detected.ConclusionsCompared with lifestyle intervention alone, massage combined with lifestyle intervention significantly decreased BW, BMI, WC, TC, TG, LDL-C, FINS, and HOMA-IR, but produced less effect in increasing HDL-C. And different ages, treatment intervals, and treatment times can all affect treatment outcomes.Copyright © 2025 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

11 keywords...

hide…