Impact of infrared moxibustion for patients with mild hyperlipidemia: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Overview

Authors: Haihua Xie¹, Fang Feng², Jiaxing Zhu¹, Wei Zhu³, Shulin Xiong⁴, Bowen Xing², Sihao Chen⁵, Qingxia Li⁵, Ting Zhu⁴, Mi Liu¹

ORCID iDs: Mi Liu

College of Acupuncture & Tuina and Rehabilitation, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
Preventive Treatment of Disease Center, Chenzhou First People’s Hospital, Chenzhou, China
Department of Acupuncture and Tuina, Hunan Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, Changsha, China
Preventive Treatment of Disease Center, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
College of Acupuncture & Tuina and Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China

Institutions: Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China); Chenzhou First People's Hospital (China); Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China)

Journal: Annals of medicine, volume 58, issue 1, article 2665513

Dates: published online 4 May 2026; in print December 2026

Type: Other · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513 · PMID 42080526 · PMCID PMC13148090 · OpenAlex W7160028868

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only

Categories: human (organism), clinical / translational (subfield)

Methods: Statistics, Connectivity, fMRI & imaging, Preprocessing

Keywords: Infrared moxibustion, hyperlipidemia, microbiota-gut-brain axis

MeSH: Hyperlipidemias*, Infrared Rays*, Moxibustion*, Adult, Aged, Female, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Gray Matter, Humans, Lipids, Male, Methylamines, Middle Aged, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome (* major topic)

Journal subjects: Primary Care

Topic: Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies (Complementary and alternative medicine, Medicine), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Interdisciplinary Direction Cultivation Project of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine (No. 2025JC0104); Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (No. 2024JK2132, No. 2024RC1061); Scientific Research Project of Hunan Provincial Health Commission (No. 20257637); Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No.2026JJ81085); Hunan University of Chinese Medicine Graduate Student Research Innovation Project (No. 2025CX020); State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (National TCM Human Education Letter [2022] No. 256); Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Tuina, Hunan Province, Postgraduate Joint Cultivation Base (No. 357, Xiang Tong [2022]); Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Moxibustion Bioinformatics and Wisdom Recreation and Nutrition Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Center (No. 356, Xiang Tong [2021]); Hunan Provincial Modern Industrial College – ‘Xiang’ai (Hunan Mugwort) Health Modern Industry College’ of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine (Xiangjiaotong [2023] No. 379)

Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 64 references in the paper

Abstract

Introduction: Hyperlipidemia serves as a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and cognitive impairment, making early intervention and management highly necessary. Infrared moxibustion, a modern complementary and alternative therapy, currently lacks high-quality clinical research to substantiate its efficacy and underlying mechanisms. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effects of infrared moxibustion on blood lipid levels in patients with hyperlipidemia, and to explore its potential mechanisms by analyzing changes in gut microbiota and their metabolites, as well as alterations in brain gray matter volume.

Patient and methods: This study will recruit 158 patients with mild hyperlipidemia and randomly assign them to either a genuine infrared moxibustion group or a sham infrared moxibustion group. The intervention will be administered twice weekly for a total of 8 weeks. Blood lipid levels, Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores, Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores will be compared between the two groups before treatment, and at 4, 8, and 12 weeks post-treatment. Additionally, changes in gut microbiota, the gut microbiota metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), and brain gray matter volume will be detected and compared between the two groups before treatment and at 8 weeks post-treatment (See Graphic Abstract).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

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Data

Datasets cited

figshare:32158833, at figshare; found in DataCite

Data availability statement

The data can be requested from the corresponding author after formal publication of this trial.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 3 keywords, 15 MeSH terms, 9 funders, 48 references.

Cite

This paper

Xie, H., Feng, F., Zhu, J., Zhu, W., Xiong, S., Xing, B., Chen, S., Li, Q., Zhu, T., & Liu, M. (2026). Impact of infrared moxibustion for patients with mild hyperlipidemia: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Annals of medicine, 58(1), 2665513. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513

BibTeX

@article{xie2026impact, author = {Xie, Haihua and Feng, Fang and Zhu, Jiaxing and Zhu, Wei and Xiong, Shulin and Xing, Bowen and Chen, Sihao and Li, Qingxia and Zhu, Ting and Liu, Mi}, title = {{Impact of infrared moxibustion for patients with mild hyperlipidemia: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial}}, journal = {Annals of medicine}, year = {2026}, month = may, volume = {58}, number = {1}, pages = {2665513}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis}, issn = {0785-3890}, doi = {10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513}, pmid = {42080526}, pmcid = {PMC13148090} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Xie, Haihua AU - Feng, Fang AU - Zhu, Jiaxing AU - Zhu, Wei AU - Xiong, Shulin AU - Xing, Bowen AU - Chen, Sihao AU - Li, Qingxia AU - Zhu, Ting AU - Liu, Mi TI - Impact of infrared moxibustion for patients with mild hyperlipidemia: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial T2 - Annals of medicine J2 - Ann Med PY - 2026 DA - 2026/05/04 VL - 58 IS - 1 SP - 2665513 SN - 0785-3890 PB - Taylor & Francis DO - 10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513 UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2026.2665513 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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