A Computational Framework to Study the Effect of Acupuncture on Obesity by Integrating Multiple Levels of Data.

Huihui Liu,Jinming Chen,Le Wei,Mingjun Liu,Yingbo Jiao,Minghui Yan,Dandan Li,Xiaolin Zhang,Xiaochen Liu

doi:10.1155/2020/8513860

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of obesity by a computational framework integrating randomized controlled trials published in China and abroad. Specifically, clinical trial documents published on CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 2007-2017 were downloaded and analyzed using Stata 15.1 system. As a result, a total of 13 articles were imported and 1052 patients were included. The analyses showed that the overall effect of an acupuncture group and a control group was not significant with P > 0.01. However, the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the diet and exercise instruction group with P < 0.01; the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the oral Chinese and western medicine group with P < 0.01. In conclusion, acupuncture as a complementary alternative therapy is recommended for the treatment of obesity.

Highlights

Obesity mainly refers to the exclusion of excessive systemic fat accumulation caused by hereditary, metabolic, traumatic, or other diseases
Refer to the standard of efficacy of obesity discussed at the first national conference on the treatment of obesity by Integrated traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in 1987 [5]
Significant effect is defined as weight loss 30%, Mel 70%, and body mass index (BMI) drop > 4

Summary

Introduction

Obesity mainly refers to the exclusion of excessive systemic fat accumulation caused by hereditary, metabolic, traumatic, or other diseases. A survey by JAMA shows that 2/3 of people in the United States are overweight or obese [1]. Another survey report shows that Americans pay $147 billion a year for obesity-related diseases and the number of obese people in China is increasing. A survey by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2003 alone, the direct economic burden caused by obesity in four chronic diseases (hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and stroke) was as high as 2.01 billion Chinese yuan, accounting for 25.5% of the total direct disease burden of the four diseases [2, 3]. In 1998, the consensus meeting of the National Institutes of Health issued a statement about the promising results of acupuncture in the treatment of some diseases such as obesity [4]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion