OBJECTIVEMoxibustion is currently used for treating diabetes mellitus (DM) as a non-drug intervention in East Asian countries. This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion for managing the symptoms of type 2 DM patients.

METHODSWe searched MEDLINE, AMED, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, six Korean databases, and four Chinese databases. Risk of bias was used for evaluating the quality of the included studies.

RESULTSA total of 5 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. All of the included studies had high risks of bias. One randomized clinical trial (RCT) compared the effectiveness of one-time moxibustion use with oral administration of glibenclimide and showed the significant effects of moxibustion on glycemic control. Another RCT tested the effectiveness of moxibustion plus conventional treatment, and the moxibustion group reported significant improvement in fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels compared with the conventional treatment group. Two RCTs compared the effectiveness of moxibustion versus acupuncture or moxibustion plus acupuncture, and the combined treatment showed the most favorable effects on the control of blood glucose, urine glucose, and glycocylated hemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)). One uncontrolled observational study showed favorable effects of moxibustion on the response rate.

CONCLUSIONSIt is difficult to conclude that moxibustion is an effective intervention for the control of type 2 DM due to the scarcity of trials and the low methodological quality of included studies. Further rigorous RCTs may be necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion for type 2 DM.