Doctors think stimulating the vagus nerve might reduce inflammation in the body, but we don't have solid proof yet — we need better studies to find out if it really works.

Scientists have looked at 36 studies on a treatment that stimulates the vagus nerve to reduce inflammation, but the studies are too different and poorly done to say for sure if it actually works for any specific condition.

Stimulating the vagus nerve doesn't reliably lower inflammation markers like TNF-α or IL-6 in people, no matter if it's done for a short or long time — studies show the effect is too weak to be meaningful.

There's no clear proof that whether you use vagus nerve stimulation for a short or long time, or whether you do it with surgery or a device on the skin, changes how much inflammation your body has.

Stimulating the vagus nerve might lower a marker of inflammation called CRP in people who are acutely sick, but the evidence is shaky because the studies were small and mixed, so we can't say it works for long-term inflammation.