Yoga and chronic diseases: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Introduction: With the popularity of yoga increasing as a means to improve overall well-being, this umbrella review aimed to evaluate the potential effects of yoga on chronic disease outcomes by synthesizing previously published systematic reviews, including meta-analyses, of randomized controlled trials in adult populations. Content: PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Science, and CINAHL for systematic reviews published up to 31st March 2023. Systematic reviews examining the effectiveness of yoga interventions compared with controllable groups on chronic disease outcomes were searched from adults aged above 18 years old. Fifty-one systematic reviews, of which 34 were with meta-analyses, were eligible. The included reviews yielded 579 individual studies with 28403 reported participants. Most studies (n=45, 86.5 %) were conducted with general adult participants, other six studies were with women diagnosed with breast cancer. Yoga interventions had strong effects on depression, blood pressure, blood glucose, and fatigue management, while weak evidence was found for pain management and arthritis. Summary: Yoga intervention may have an effect on improvements on depression, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and fatigue management but not beneficial for physically disordered chronic diseases. Outlook: Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer durations are necessary to validate the effect of yoga on chornic diseases. Further exploration on yoga implementation are expected. Primary Funding Source: JIF201036Y and JIF201018Y (PROSPERO: CRD42023417841).