Meta-analysis of auricular-plaster therapy intervening with anxiety in adults

Abstract

Objective To review the intervention effects of auricular-plaster therapy on adults with anxiety systematically. Methods Data about random controlled trails of auricular-plaster therapy in treating anxiety were collected from Cochrane, PubMed, Embase, CBMdisc, CNKI and Wanfang databases. The quality of literatures were assessed and the data were collected by two persons independently. Multiple-time-point Meta-analysis was used for anxiety, while endpoint Meta-analysis was used for quality of sleep and life. RevMan 5.3 was used for statistical analysis. Results Totally 15 literatures were included in this study, involving 890 subjects. Meta-analysis showed that auricular-plaster therapy could ameliorate anxiety continuously with high degrees within 2 months (P 0.05) . Auricular-plaster therapy could improve the quality of sleep effectively (P 0.05) . Conclusions Auricular-plaster therapy can ameliorate patients' anxiety and improve their quality of sleep, but considering the limited quality and quantity of studies included, the findings of our study will need to be tested by multicenter and high-quality random controlled trails with large samples, especially its long-term intervention effects. Key words: Anxiety; Sleep; Quality of life; Auricular-plaster therapy; Meta-analysis; Adults