Effectiveness of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease: An Overview of Systematic Reviews.

Jinke Huang,Xiaohui Qin,Xiaowen Cai,Yong Huang

doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00917

Abstract

Background: The effects of acupuncture on Parkinson's disease (PD) outcomes remain unclear. The aim of this overview was to comprehensively evaluate the methodological quality and applicability of the results of systematic reviews (SRs)/meta-analyses (MAs) that examined the use of acupuncture to treat PD.Methods: Eight databases were searched to retrieve SRs/MAs on the use of acupuncture for the treatment of PD. Two reviewers independently screened and extracted the data using the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2) checklist to evaluate the methodological quality and using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria to assess the evidence quality of the included reviews.Results: A total of 11 SRs/MAs were included. According to the AMSTAR-2 checklist results, all included SRs/MAs were rated as very-low-quality studies. The GRADE criteria revealed 20 studies with very-low-quality evidence, 9 with low-quality evidence, 3 with moderate-quality evidence, and 0 with high-quality evidence. Descriptive analysis showed that acupuncture appears to be a clinically effective and safe treatment for PD.Conclusions: The use of acupuncture for the treatment of PD may be clinically effective and safe. This conclusion must be interpreted cautiously due to the generally low methodological quality and low quality of evidence of the included studies.

Highlights

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an extrapyramidal movement disorder characterized by static tremors, myotonia, bradykinesia, postural instability, and gait difficulty [1]
The methodological limitations arose from three major items: item 2, item 4, and item 7
The 11 systematic review (SR)/MAs included 32 outcomes related to the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating PD

Summary

Introduction

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an extrapyramidal movement disorder characterized by static tremors, myotonia, bradykinesia, postural instability, and gait difficulty [1]. Environmental and behavioral factors, and other disease factors (i.e., sleep disturbances, hypertension, and traumatic brain injury) have been shown to be increased risk factors for the development of PD [5, 6]. These risk factors are crucial to the early diagnosis of PD and helpful in the development of effective neuroprotection and health care strategies for appropriate populations at risk for PD [5, 7]. The aim of this overview was to comprehensively evaluate the methodological quality and applicability of the results of systematic reviews (SRs)/meta-analyses (MAs) that examined the use of acupuncture to treat PD

Methods

Results

Conclusion