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Trial, not randomized · measured lab tests or safety

Trial in 150 people with heart failure: sauna did not clearly change blood hormones

Ichiki and colleagues · Circulation journal · 2017

Original title: Neurohumoral Modulation During Waon Therapy in Chronic Heart Failure　- Subanalysis of Waon-CHF Study.

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What the study found

No difference

Heart-related blood hormones BNP, Aldo and CNP were not statistically different between sauna and control groups, although clinical measures improved. Some subgroups on certain heart drugs did better in the sauna group.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Trial, not randomized
Who or what was studied
150 people · people with chronic heart failure
What was tested
Waon therapy (dry far infrared sauna) vs usual care, with blood hormone levels checked
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Trial registration
UMIN000006705
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Circulation journal, 2017
Source
PubMed record 28202884. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • –Not randomized: the groups may differ in ways that affect the result.
  • •Medium size: 150 people.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for heart disease, blood pressure and death. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: heart disease, blood pressure and death

    3

    3 benefit

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    5

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  4. Population studies

    4

    4 benefit

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does sauna use lower heart disease risk?”

Possibly, but not proven in trials.

Confidence: low. Based on 21 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 4 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 1 mixed, 1 no difference. This one found no difference.

  • Open item for a person: WAON-CHF trial: Ichiki 2017 is a subanalysis of Tei 2016 (UMIN000006705). Counted once.

Other papers on the same step

See all 21 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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