Separated moxibustion in rheumatoid arthritis: clinical efficacy and gut microbiota modulation
Adding separated moxibustion to conventional drug therapy was associated with improvements in RA clinical scores and negative emotions, alongside changes in gut microbiota composition.
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What the study showed
The abstract reports that the moxibustion group showed improvements in DAS28, VAS, morning stiffness, gastrointestinal symptoms, anxiety, and depression scores compared to controls. Differences in gut microbiota composition (16S rRNA sequencing) and inflammatory markers such as LPS and LBP were observed. The proposed mechanism involves modulation of the gut-joint axis through microbial changes.
How it was done
Randomized clinical trial with 70 RA patients divided into a control group (conventional medication) and an observation group (medication plus moxibustion at ST36, BL23, and Ashi points), 3 sessions per week for 5 weeks. A healthy reference group (n=30) was included for microbiota comparison.
Risk of bias
Effective sample size is small (~60 patients) with dropout in both groups. Blinding to moxibustion intervention is inherently impossible, introducing expectation bias; the abstract does not specify a pre-registered primary endpoint or power calculation.
What this study does NOT prove
This study does not prove that moxibustion modifies disease course or that gut microbiota changes are causally responsible for the observed clinical effects.
In clinical practice
Results are preliminary and insufficient to recommend moxibustion as a standard adjunct in RA management. Larger, actively controlled trials with longer follow-up are required.
Limitations
Effective sample size is small (~60 patients) with dropout in both groups. Blinding to moxibustion intervention is inherently impossible, introducing expectation bias; the abstract does not specify a pre-registered primary endpoint or power calculation.
Technical appendix
Version history
- 1.0 · 2026-07-23 — Auto-generated under Evidence Standard v1.0
Paid access: structured summary from public metadata; consult the original study at the source.