Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Pregnant Women Suffering from Constipation: A Systematic review

Abstract

Background: Constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms in pregnant women. Purpose: This study was aimed at determining the effects of complementary and alternative therapy methods on the symptoms of pregnancy-related constipation. Search strategy: The authors performed a systematic search according to PRISMA guidelines. The database Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, CENTRAL, national databases were screened to reach studies published from January 2010 to March 2020 with restriction to human studies in English or Turkish language . The quality of the studies included in the study was assessed with the measurement tool proposed in the JADAD, JBI, and Observational Open-Label Studies scales. Inclusion criteria: Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed using the keywords constipation “pregnancy” or pregnant woman and “acupuncture” or “acupressure” or “massage” or “herbal medicine” or “aromatherapy” or “music therapy” or “homeopathy” or “hypnosis” or “meditation” or “reflexology” or “moxibustion” or “ayurvedic Medicine” or “ayurveda” or “Traditional Iranian Medicine Data extraction and analysis: Selection of included articles, data extraction and methodological quality assessments were respectively conducted by two review authors. Findings : 14536 studies were selected and 706 studies were screened based on their titles and abstracts. Seventy-three studies were analyzed in detail to assess whether they were suitable. In order to find a larger number of original articles, of the studies in the reference lists of these studies, those found in the electronical environment were screened, but no studies were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Finally, 3 studies were included in the study. Conclusions : The results demonstrated that herbal medicine and foot reflexology reduced constipation complaints during pregnancy without any side effects. Because the number of studies conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of different types of complementary and alternative medicine methods in pregnant women with constipation is very few, more studies should be carried out on the issue.