RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic, and many methods are currently used to reduce obesity. This systematic review shows the effectiveness of the intragastric balloon (IGB) method compared to the sham/diet (s/d) method. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the effectiveness of the IGB method compared to the s/d method. SETTING: Hospital das Clinicas da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, Public Hospital. METHODS: After searching MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Lilacs, Scopus, and CINAHL, only enrolled randomized control trials comparing IGB/diet with s/d were analyzed. For qualitative analysis, 12 studies were selected, and 9 of these were acceptable for quantitative analysis. RESULTS: The IGB/diet is more effective than s/d when comparing body mass index (BMI) loss with a mean difference of 1.1 kg/m(2) by the Student's t test and 1.41 kg/m(2) by the meta-analysis, with significant differences in both. It is also more effective in weight loss (WL), with a mean difference of 2 kg by the Student's t test and 3.55 kg by the meta-analysis. In the qualitative analysis of % excess WL (%EWL), the mean %EWL is 14.0% in favor of the IGB group compared to the s/d group by the Student's t test; however, no significant difference was found between these groups by quantitative analysis. CONCLUSION: Based on randomized control trial data alone, IGB>400 mL is more effective than sham/diet in achieving BMI loss, WL, and %EWL.