Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 144
Yoga is a holistic practice that is said to engage all aspects of our being. The aims of this review are to assess the efficacy of yoga therapy in decreasing coronary heart disease risk factors and disease severity in those with known coronary heart disease.
Literature searches were performed using the following databases: Medline, Embase, Pubmed, Amed, Cinahl, Ciscom and the Cochrane Library (all from their inception to May 2002). Experts in the field were contacted for identification of hard to find or unpublished trials. Only randomised controlled trials of yoga in people with known risk factors or coronary heart disease were included. Studies measuring only laboratory outcomes were excluded. All articles were read by two independent reviewers. Data were extracted in a predefined, standardised fashion. The methodological quality of the trials was evaluated by a modified Jadad score.
Six trials met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Five out of six favoured yoga over placebo.
Yoga practised as a holistic discipline is beneficial for the prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease.
