The effects of biofeedback for the treatment of essential hypertension: a systematic review

Abstract

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Efficacy of Biofeedback for Medical Conditions: an Evidence Map

“…For all other conditions, systematic reviews included both studies examining biofeedback alone and as an adjunct to another intervention (Table 1). 11,[21][22][23][24] We found high-confidence evidence that biofeedback is effective for reducing the frequency, duration, and intensity of migraine and tension-type headaches. There is also moderate-confidence evidence of benefit on secondary outcomes of headaches such as medication intake, muscle tension, anxiety, and depression.…”

“…17 Limited (low-confidence) evidence suggests that biofeedback provides no benefit for urinary incontinence in women once differences in PFMT programs were controlled for, 13 nor was it effective for blood pressure control. 22 Findings related to all other conditions were insufficient, largely due to mixed findings and/or small sample sizes ( Fig. 2 and Table 3).…”

“…Findings suggested a positive effect on steady-state balance outcomes, but findings were mixed for outcomes related to dynamic-state balance/gait training and proactive balance training. 19 A large body of smaller, largely poor-quality trials report that biofeedback (alone or combined with relaxation) is not a viable alternative to pharmacologic intervention for hypertension, 22 and a metaanalysis of a similar body of evidence found that despite significantly higher ratings of patient satisfaction, biofeedback as an adjunct to PFMT provides no benefit for women experiencing urinary incontinence once differences in PFMT programs are considered. 13 For other conditions, there were insufficient data to form reliable conclusions.…”

Psychological methods in treatment of essential hypertension

“…In a report by the American Heart Association it was noted that biofeedback may be used in clinical practice in order to reduce blood pressure due to its safety, despite certain equivocal results of studies concerning the effectiveness of this non-pharmaceutical method [24,68]. There is some evidence of the low quality of such studies and ineffectiveness of procedures based on biofeedback in the treatment of adults with EH, compared to pharmacotherapy, fictitious biofeedback training, lack of interventions, and other behavioural methods [69]. However, in the study by Tsai, Chang, Chang, Lee and Wang, a statistically significant reduction of blood pressure was observed in a group of people with EH who used biofeedback, compared to patients with EH who applied fictitious biofeedback (placebo) [70].…”