Table 3.
Summary of the findings of the GRADE quality assessment for a comparison of Tai Chi versus no intervention.
| Certainty Assessment | No of Patients | Effect | Certainty | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of Studies | Study Design | Risk of Bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other Considerations | Tai Chi | No Intervention | Relative (95% CI) |
Absolute (95% CI) |
|
| 4 | randomized trials | serious a | serious b | not serious | serious c | none | 124 | 119 | - | SMD 1.32 lower (2.11 lower to 0.52 lower) |
⨁◯◯◯ Very low |
| 2 | randomized trials | serious a | not serious | not serious | serious c | none | 89 | 85 | - | SMD 1.01 higher (0.69 higher to 1.33 higher) |
⨁⨁◯◯ Low |
Note: CI: confidence interval; serious a: most trials had a lack of allocation concealment and blinding of participants, which might have affected the trial outcomes; seriousb: substantial heterogeneity of the results; serious c: small sample size; SMD: standardized mean difference. ⨁/◯ indicates the certainty level.