Cardiovascular hiccups: a meta-analysis of comprehensively retrieved worldwide literature

Shi-Min Yuan

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Putian, Teaching Hospital, Fujian Medical University, Putian, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China

Objective: The concept, etiology, management and outcomes of cardiovascular hiccups have not been sufficiently described. The aim of this article is to present a meta-analysis of cardiovascular hiccups.

Methods: By comprehensive retrieval of the pertinent literature published since 1970, 223 articles with 1,251 patients were recruited into this study.

Results: Cardiovascular etiologies of hiccups can be classified into four types: cardiogenic, vasogenic, iatrogenic and cardiovascular drug-induced. The cardiogenic type is the most common, and it is prevailed by an acute myocardial infarction etiology. Patients with symptomatic treatment were associated with a significantly higher improvement rate and a lower recurrent rate in comparison to the patients receiving etiological treatment. Chinese medicine treatment was superior to Western medicine concerning the cured and improvement rates.

Conclusion: When patients show poor responses to symptomatic treatments, a diagnosis of cardiovascular hiccup due to acute myocardial infarction should be suspected. Chinese medicinal or integrated treatment is a treatment of choice when non-pharmaceutical or Western medicinal treatment is ineffective.