Concept Of Evidence-based Medicine Research Articles

A study on knowledge, attitude and practices towards research among medical post graduate students

Background: Research is crucial for the scientific progress of the health of individuals and communities. Understanding the concept of evidence-based medicine needs strong research knowledge. Research assures understanding of the subject and improves the knowledge of the students. This study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practices among medical post graduate students and to study the sociodemographic factors. And to determine the association of knowledge with various sociodemographic factors. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study conducted during a period of two months among the medical post graduate students studying in a private medical college. Knowledge, attitude and practice were assessed by using self- administered questionnaire among 117 post graduate students. Likert scale was used to assess the knowledge component. Results: Among 117 study subjects 47% were first year 27.4% were second year and 25.6% were third year among which the overall adequate knowledge was 86.3%, positive attitude was 95.7% and good practices according to the study scale was only 29.1%. Level of knowledge and practices were found to be having significant association with the academic year studying in (p value <0.05). Conclusions: The post graduate students had adequate knowledge and positive attitude but had poor practices towards research. Adequate research helps to bridge the gaps in research and help the future generations in developing new interventions.

From evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine to digital-intelligent traditional Chinese medicine: a focus on standards evaluating the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine

The difficulty in defining the ambiguous “natural language” within the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the dynamic evaluation and individual differences of treatment based on syndrome differentiation, as well as “hard-to-quantify” characteristics of subjectiveness in the evaluation of treatment efficacy during the treatment, has resulted in the questioning and limited use of various TCM therapies with extensive application in clinical practice, which also arises from the lack of recognized and scientific evaluation methods. The standards evaluating the clinical efficacy of TCM remain the key bottleneck restricting the modernization and internationalization of TCM. Although the concept of evidence-based medicine was introduced into the field of TCM and applied to the evaluation and exploration of the clinical efficacy of TCM, there is still a lack of systematic methodological tools for its applicability evaluation. The concept of “digital-intelligent TCM” provides a new direction for the exploration of TCM based on the scientific and technological background of the times. It is not antagonistic to evidence-based TCM; instead, it complements and prompts evidence-based TCM to jointly accelerate the standardization of the evaluation of the clinical efficacy of TCM.

Japanese Society of Anxiety and Related Disorders/Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology: Clinical practice guideline for social anxiety disorder (2021).

The development of clinical practice guidelines for social anxiety disorder began in March 2018 when the Joint Clinical Practice Guideline Development Committee for Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders was formed by the Japanese Society of Anxiety and Related Disorders and Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology to jointly develop guidelines for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Based on the universal concept of evidence-based medicine, three clinical questions (CQs) about pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy were developed for clinical guidelines for social anxiety disorder, panic disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in accordance with the Minds "Manual for Guidelines Development 2017 by the Japan Council for Quality Health Care: CQ1-"What is the recommended pharmacotherapy for social anxiety disorder in adults?"; CQ2-"What is the recommended psychotherapy (psychological intervention) for social anxiety disorder in adults?"; and CQ3-"What are the recommendations regarding monotherapy and combination therapy for social anxiety disorder in adults in terms of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy (psychological interventions)?" Summarized recommendations for social anxiety disorder in adults are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor for CQ1, cognitive behavioral therapy for CQ2, and there are no recommendations regarding monotherapy and combination therapy for CQ3. These were answered by considering the balance between benefits and harms based on systematic reviews of each. The aim of this brief guideline for the standard-of-care (i.e., medical treatment) for social anxiety disorder in adults (18 years and older) was to help "shared decision making," in which medical professionals, including physicians, and patients share scientific evidence to decide on a course of treatment.

Evidence-based versus expertise-based medicine in orthopedic and trauma surgery : There is nothing more practical than agood theory

About aquarter of acentury after the introduction of the concept and principles of evidence-based medicine (EbM), some healthcare providers are still adamant that these are incompatible with knowledge gained through experience. Across the surgical disciplines, it is often argued EbM underestimates or neglects the importance of intuition and surgical skills. To put it bluntly, these assumptions are wrong and often characterized by a misunderstanding of the methodology of EbM. Even the best controlled trial cannot be properly interpreted or implemented without clinical reasoning; furthermore, clinicians of all disciplines are obligated to provide care according to the current state of scientific knowledge. In an era of revolutionary biomedical developments, exponential increase of research but incremental innovations, they must become familiar with pragmatic tools to appraise the validity and relevance of clinical study results, and to decide whether there is aneed to adapt current beliefs and practices based on the new information. We herein use the recent example of anew medical device for the surgical treatment of rotator cuff tears and subacromial impingement syndrome to illustrate how important it is to interpret data in the context of aprecise, answerable question and to combine clinical expertise with methodological principles offered by EbM.

Recommendations of the committee on complementary medicine and nutrition in ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, nutrition and Mediterranean diet

Methods of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are appealing for many patients with rheumatic diseases. The scientific data are currently characterized by alarge number of publications that stand in contrast to aremarkable shortage of valid clinical studies. The applications of CAM procedures are situated in an area of conflict between efforts for an evidence-based medicine and high-quality therapeutic concepts on the one hand and ill-founded or even dubious offers on the other hand. In 2021 the German Society of Rheumatology (DGRh) launched acommittee for CAM and nutrition, which aims to collect and to evaluate the current evidence for CAM applications and nutritional medical interventions in rheumatology, in order to elaborate recommendations for the clinical practice. The current article presents recommendations for nutritional interventions in the rheumatological routine for four areas: nutrition, Mediterranean diet, ayurvedic medicine and homeopathy.

Developing TCM clinical practice guidelines: A comparison between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine

Clinical practice guidelines in Traditional Chinese Medicine (CPG-TCM) is the recommendation that aims to provide the best service to users by identifying and summarizing the rules of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and regression of diseases based on systematic reviews of evidence and balancing the advantages and disadvantages of different interventions for clinical questions of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Over the past 30 years, the concept and methods of evidence-based medicine have had a significant impact on the development of clinical practice guidelines in Western Medicine (CPG-WM), and their standardized guideline development methods are being adapted and used in the development of CPG-TCM. However, the quality of CPG-TCM is far from CPG-WM, and the methodological system for developing CPG-TCM is not yet fully established. Therefore, this study aims to explore the methodological differences between CPG-TCM and CPG-WM and to inform the development of high-quality CPGTCM.

An infographic model of a database for conducting an analytical study of the long-term consequences of cervical cancer treatment

Relevance. The development of ideas of critical attitude to medical information led to the concepts of evidence-based medicine (EM) in the late 1980s. The main postulates of EM are following: – every doctor’s decision must be based on scientific data; – the weight of each fact is greater, the stricter the method of scientific research in the course of which it was obtained. Correct planning of the research design and qualified statistical analysis are the most important for obtaining reliable, scientifically based results. The application of modern information technologies to arrays of catamnetic data of patients with cervical cancer (CRC) provides an opportunity to conduct a scientific study on the detection of the dependence of the appearance of oncological consequences of CRC treatment (metastases, relapses, secondary cancers) and manifestations of radiation toxicity on the clinical and biological characteristics of the patient and the features of the performed chemoradiation treatment. A necessary component of the success of such research is strict adherence to the principles of evidence-based medicine at all stages, in particular research planning. The main task at this stage is to determine the informative constitutional and biological, biometric, and social characteristics of the patient, parameters of treatment and the development of the disease in order to create a relevant informational model of the research database. The purpose of the work is to create an infological model of the catamnetic database of patients with CRC in order to determine the risk factors of local and distant metastasis and radiation toxicity during radical chemoradiation treatment of patients with CRC. Materials and methods: scientific literature with a level of evidence of primary data not lower than 2+, analysis of own experience, specialized analytical system «Database of patients». Results and discussion. An infological model of the database of catamnetic data of patients with CRC has been created, which provides the most complete representation of the subject area, contains all the entities and their attributes necessary for implementation. It is shown which parameters, factors and features of the disease should be taken into account when creating a database to obtain informationally significant results based on the accumulated data. Conclusions. The relevant informational model of the research database created in accordance with the approaches of evidence-based medicine is a necessary component for obtaining scientifically based results based on the catamnetic data of patients with CRC.

Role of Surgical Drains in Orthopedics

Abstract Introduction: The use of drains in orthopedic practice has been affected by the concept of evidence-based medicine, which is accepted as the standard of care for all surgical or medical practices. This concept questions all care processes that cannot be backed by evidence to be beneficial to the patient. There have been a large number of multi-center meta-analytical studies that have found drains to be of little or no benefit in trauma and orthopedic surgeries. As a result of these studies, there are few situations where drains are routinely used, such as calcaneal fractures in developed countries. Even major procedures such as total knee and arthroplasties are being performed without drains. We aim to investigate whether similar evidence can be found in our practice. Materials and Methods: This sounds like the description of a prospective randomized controlled trial studying the use of drains in certain types of surgical procedures. The study population consisted of 86 patients matched for sex and type of injury, and they were assigned to either a group that used drains or a group that did not use drains during their operations. The study aimed to observe and compare the rates of complications, such as hematoma, drain migration, infection, and inadvertent drain stitching, between the two groups. Results: Eighty-six major orthopedic operations were studied. There was no evidence of the occurrence of complication arising from nonuse of drains in the undrained group. Those patients whose wounds were drained had no need for drain change, thus making the wound care less eventful. Conclusion: Wound drains can help reduce tissue swelling in the postoperative period, but there is no significant difference in infection rates, hematoma, or seroma formation between drained and undrained wounds.

Processing of Real World Data in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a unique traditional medicine in China and has been passed down to the present day with its unique theoretical basis and treatment model. The introduction of the concept of evidence-based medicine into traditional Chinese medicine and the scientific evaluation of its clinical efficacy are essential for the better development and transmission of TCM. Randomised controlled trials have always been the "gold standard" of clinical trial evidence due to their strict inclusion and exclusion criteria and strict control of the data collection process, but the specificity of the TCM treatment model, the holistic, ambiguous, diverse and complex nature of the data, and the concomitant events in the research process make it difficult to conduct randomized ontrolled trials in TCM. Real World Study (RWS), which is conducted in actual clinical settings with broad inclusion and exclusion criteria to obtain treatment effects and long-term clinical outcomes as endpoints, can be used for long-term evaluation of treatment measures based on patients' preference. Real world studies allow for the long-term evaluation of treatment measures based on patients' preference, and are able to evaluate the overall effects, adapting to the holistic concept of Chinese medicine and the characteristics of evidence-based treatment. This paper summaries the data characteristics and data processing methods of real world studies in TCM, with a view to providing a reference for real world studies in TCM.

Consciousness of evidence-based medicine in public health emergencies.

Consciousness of evidence-based medicine in public health emergencies.

The research escape hunt: An escape room-scavenger hunt for resident education.

Research and evidence-based medicine (EBM) education are important elements of emergency medicine (EM) residency training; however, curricular time is limited and integrating novel strategies to engage learners and improve understanding of complex concepts is challenging. We sought to develop a unique research escape hunt educational experience to teach EM residents basic research and EBM skills using an active-learning, team-based strategy. A nine-station escape room-scavenger hunt was designed around educational content including (1) predictive statistics and diagnostic test characteristics, (2) interpretation of data and statistical analysis, (3) study design, (4) informed consent for research, and (5) the ethical principles guiding research. Stations required participants to use a variety of strategies to solve puzzles, with a correct response required to progress through the escape hunt. Teams worked together to solve each station's puzzles, with opportunities to reinforce the content in real time. Subsequent sessions were presented in a virtual format using Zoom breakout rooms over the past 2 years. Postactivity assessments were grounded in Kirkpatrick's model and focused on participants' reactions, learning, and behavior. Participants reported high levels of satisfaction (100% [21/21] "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied") and engagement (95% [20/21] "engaged" or "very engaged") with the activity, as well as increased comfort with the research and EBM concepts covered (91% [19/21] "agree" or "strongly agree" increased comfort), and demonstrated improvements in knowledge across each content area presented (91% [19/21]). This practical, team-based curriculum was found to be a successful way to engage residents with research methodology and EBM content. This curriculum is feasible for both in-person and virtual formats and we will continue to use this as a component of our EM residency program moving forward.

MODERN ASPECTS OF EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE

In recent years, the pandemic situation had an impact on scientific works, and the main focus had been shifted to the modern problem – COVID-19. Many medical issues have fallen into the shadows, such as evidence-based medicine. The aim of this work is to review articles about evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based Medicine is the integration of best research evidence, clinical expertise, patient values. The concept of evidence-based medicine includes five main steps: Formulation of answerable clinical questions, Searching for evidence, Critical appraisal, Applicability of evidence, Evaluation of performance.Today the evidence-based medicine is the main rule to use the best decision for medical services for individual patients.

Concept and method of evidence-based toxicology of traditional Chinese medicine from origin and development of evidence-based toxicology

Advances in science and technology promote the rapid development of toxicological detection technologies. However, there is still a lack of decision-making tools for toxicological risk assessment, such as the lack of transparent schemes to evaluate current toxicological research and practice and the lag of toxicological testing tools to evaluate toxicity, resulting in difficulties in toxicity verification and hindering the transformation of toxicological research paradigm. Some scholars have proposed to integrate the concept of evidence-based medicine with the toxicological practice to improve the technical methods of toxicological research concept and risk assessment decision-making. With the promotion of relevant scholars and academic organizations, the concept and connotation of evidence-based toxicology have gradually become clear and a framework for research and practice has been initially formed. Although there are still many challenges, it also provides a new idea for the toxicity risk assessment and safe medication decision-making of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM). The era of digital intelligence has brought new opportunities and broad space for the development of TCM evidence-based toxicology. The exploration of TCM evidence-based toxicology from concept to method is an important embodiment of the development of TCM evidence-based toxicology, and will also promote the continuous enrichment and improvement of the research and practice system of TCM evidence-based toxicology.

Evaluation of management in acute coronary syndrome and extent of adherence to standard treatment guidelines

Background: India has the highest burden of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the world. This research is to evaluate prescriptions pattern and extent of adherence to American College of Cardiology (ACC)\American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines in the management of ACS with patient outcome.Methods: Case record form containing patient’s demographic, clinical profile, diagnosis, prescription drugs (with dose, duration and frequency) were noted. Pharmacotherapy was compared to ACC/AHA guidelines, to evaluate adherence, guideline adherence index (GAI-5) was used for 5 major drug groups for ACS. GAI was calculated as: number of patients using the prescribed medications/number of eligible patients multiplied by 100.Results: A total of 172 patients diagnosed with ACS. 64 (37.20%) Patients with the highest preponderance to ACS belonged to 51-60 years age group with a 4.73:1 male to female ratio. ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (44.77%) was the most common diagnosis and an average of 14.66±4.34 drugs were prescribed. Majority of the patients opted for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with or without having received fibrinolytic therapy at onset. Adherence to the ACC/AHA guidelines being 93.75% and 118 prescriptions being 100% adherent to the guidelines. A positive correlation between adherence and number of drugs was statistically significant.Conclusions: The success of evidence-based medicine (EBM) was well noted with a 0% in hospital mortality rate i.e. all of the 172 patients were discharged with therapeutic success. Despite the concept of EBM and its proven effectiveness, there is a paucity of availability of such guidelines in India, so this study, a first of its kind can serve as a starting point of generating national as well as local guidelines.

Medical information seeking practices among medical students in Kenya: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Purpose: Many medical schools in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have adopted a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. PBL requires medical students to independently access and correctly interpret medical information. There is paucity of information on how students in LMICs retrieve medical information and apply Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) principles. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among medical students in their clinical years at Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM), a large medical school in Kenya between August and November 2016.Results: Authors analyzed results of 206 clinical year medical students at MUSOM (response rate of 84%). Standard textbooks (47.8%) and lecture slides (20.9%) were the most preferred sources of general medical information. Medscape®, a free mobile medical information application, was the most utilized drug information source. Sources which directly link to primary biomedical literature such as PUBMED and HINARI were used by 14.1% and 7.8% of students respectively. A quiz testing key clinical epidemiology concepts was also performed with a mean score of 49% (SD, 23.8).Conclusion: There is preference for standard textbooks. Low scores on the clinical epidemiology quiz, coupled with most students endorsing limited understanding of key EBM concepts emphasizes the need for broader EBM training.

How Evidence-Based Medicine Developed in Russia: From Internet Forums to Evidence-Based Clinics

The essay analyzes the transformation of the role and status of evidence-based medicine as a distinct phenomenon in the Russian context in the period from 2000 to 2021. Over these 20 years, evidence-based medicine, having gone from “the knowledge for the elite” to “a fashionable cliché,” has in fact become a brand, a marketing tool. Today, in the Russian-language mass media and on social media, expressions like “evidence-based clinic” and “evidence-based doctor” serve as a certain “mark of quality,” a brand. The increased popularity of social media has resulted in them becoming the main channel through which “evidence-based” doctors and clinics popularize medical knowledge, earn credibility, and find patients. I analyze this transformation of evidence-based medicine, in part, from the position of participant observation with elements of autoethnography. Assessing the ongoing changes from the perspective of a patient/client of medical services and specific doctors, I simultaneously reflect on them as an observer-researcher, drawing on external sources (expert statements, information from clinics’ websites, scholarship, publications in the media and social networks, etc.). The essay highlights three main factors that determined the trajectory of the development of evidence-based medicine: the marginal status of evidence-based medicine in the national healthcare system; institutional restructuring of the healthcare system in the post-Soviet period and the emergence of private medical care; generational change and the emergence of patients of the ”new formation.” The popularization of the principles of evidence-based medicine and their subsequent introduction into the practice of Russian private medical centers were accompanied not only by an improvement in the quality of diagnostics and treatment, but also by the birth of a patient of a “new formation”—not just a “demanding consumer” but a patient/consumer who is active, competent, willing to understand issues related to their own health and the health of their loved ones. The topic of personal health and health of loved ones is extremely sensitive, and we are dealing with a complex mix of negative experiences, a desire to control, fear, a sense of one’s own vulnerability, and, as a result, not only a desire but a clearly expressed need to trust the doctor and the medical system. In part, this problem can be solved by the concept of evidence-based medicine, aimed at ensuring the most effective interaction between the medical system and the patient. The widespread promotion of the principles of evidence-based medicine and the development of telemedicine can be seen as factors contributing to the reduction of inequality in access to quality medical services. Specialized social networks where reputable doctors recommend their colleagues and specific clinics help alleviate the problem of the devaluation of evidence-based medicine and its use as an advertising tool. Text in Russian

The role of GD2 as a diagnostic and prognostic tumor marker in neuroblastoma (literature review)

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a rare malignant tumor characterized by highly variable biological behavior, including spontaneous and induced regression, maturation, and progression. To assess the prognosis and response to therapy in NB, the determination of a number of oncological markers is used, such as neuron-specific enolase, lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin. Nevertheless, the models for assessing the prognosis developed so far do not fully predict the specificity of the course of the disease. In this regard, the creation of methods for monitoring tumor status in real time, based on the analysis of circulating tumor biomarkers, seems to be extremely urgent. A characteristic feature of NB is the expression of various gangliosides on the surface of tumor cells. In particular, the content of disialoganglioside GD2 reaches up to 30 % of all gangliosides. At the same time, the level of GD2 expression depends on the differentiation of neurogenic tumors: the highest concentrations are determined on NB cells, the lowest – on ganglioneuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma. The phenomenon of “shedding”, the so-called flushing, of GD2 from the NB cell membrane made it possible to estimate its concentration in the peripheral bloodstream. The article discusses the evolutionary path of the methodology for detecting GD2 in blood serum, with an emphasis on the recently introduced liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry technique, which can be used as a starting point for the emergence of GD2 as a soluble biomarker of the tumor process, which is undoubtedly a powerful application in the clinical practice that offers hope for improved diagnosis, prognosis and riskadapted therapy strategies based on well-defined, measurable determinants in accordance with the concept of evidence-based medicine.

Awareness, attitude, and practice of evidence-based medicine among primary healthcare physicians in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is essential for safe and cost-effective care provision to the population. To assess the awareness, attitude and practices and barriers among primary care physicians about EBM in Buraidah, Qassim. Cross-sectional study in Primary Health Care centers (PHCCs) of Buraidah, Qassim. The study was conducted among physicians working in PHCCs of Buraidah. Data were collected online through Google forms. Descriptive analysis was carried out to measure the frequencies and proportions. Chi-square test was used to compare barriers based on gender, academic degree, and experience categories. A total of 96 out of 144 physicians (66.7%) responded to the invitation. About 82.3% of the participants welcomed the promotion of EBM and 92% of the physicians knew about concept of EBM. About 94.8% of the physicians agreed that EBM will improve patient outcomes. The reported barriers were; patient load (87.5%), time availability (70.8%), computer availability (33.3%), internet availability (45.8%), and 56.3% stated updated clinical letters, journals, or guidelines are not available. This study found that there was high self-reported knowledge about the EBM concept; however, the knowledge about tools was poor. A number of barriers were found such as patient load, time, availability of clinical guidelines and journals and other resources such as internet and computers. Primary care physicians should be trained and facilitated for EBM.

New mode of data-intelligence fusion research on clinical “toxic” Chinese medicines: The proposal of evidence-based Chinese medicine toxicology

<p indent="0mm">The safety issues of Chinese medicine have always been regarded as a vital issue, which has been restricting the development of the Chinese medicine industry and has long had implications for public health. This is especially true for the clinical drug application of “toxic” Chinese medicines which are generally acknowledged as being a fairly complicated and hazard-prone area. These distinguishing features of “toxic” Chinese medicines noted above have limited the safe and rational clinical drug application of traditional Chinese medicine. However, previous research approaches have been subject to many limitations such as insufficient integration of basic research with clinical research, the lack of leadership and guidance for the system view and overall view. These trends of current academic studies show that there are plenty of serious difficulties in transforming the research data into effective evidence, to support the present demand for the rational clinical drug application for “toxic” Chinese medicines. In the wake of the inclusion of data as one of the elements in the scope of market-oriented reform, the scientific and technological innovation in the area of big data has occasioned the birth of data science. This will generate new opportunities for the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. Our team is in the early stages of developing a methodological system for traditional Chinese medicine evidence-based research which is based on the “four syndromes”, with characteristics of “syndrome production-syndrome differentiation-syndrome and application-syndrome verification”. This paper is guided by traditional Chinese medicine theory, drawing on the experience from the concept of evidence-based medicine, and introducing multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary technologies, such as digital twins, and artificial intelligence. Based on these parameters, our team further proposes the research concept of evidence-based Chinese medicine toxicology, and plans to build up one new mode of data-intelligence fusion research on clinical “toxic” Chinese medicines. To be specific, multi-disciplinary research methods will be applied, such as conventional toxicology, translational toxicology, toxicological genomics and clinical medicine. The research data of “toxic” Chinese medicines will subsequently be analyzed, which could include studies on clinical characteristics, toxic substance basis, toxicokinetics, toxic molecular mechanisms and toxicity-effect conversion regulation. Further, the integrative transformation between data and evidence will be carried out with the help of artificial intelligence, a disease-syndrome digital twin modeling system and other evidence-based toxicological technologies. Thus, the evaluation and prediction method using multiple and integrated evidence for “toxic” Chinese medicines will be set up, and then, the research method and technical path of evidence-based Chinese medicine toxicology will be refined, by being built around the core of data-intelligence fusion. In conclusion, this article designates data as the foundation and intelligence as the navigation, to provide new ideas and a reference base for the safety research into Chinese medicine.

Acupuncture – a national heritage of China to the world: international clinical research advances from the past decade

Abstract Acupuncture originated in China and is an important component of traditional Chinese medicine. The elucidation of its anesthetic mechanisms, the medical needs of Western societies, as well as the proven therapeutic effects of this technique have made it the most widely used medical practice in the world. The concept of evidence-based medicine has been introduced in acupuncture research for technical improvement and the production of high-quality clinical evidence. Upon reviewing the acupuncture clinical research over the past 10 years, we found the gradually increasing range of diseases that it benefits, from pain management to neoplasms and genitourinary, digestive, and mental disorders. Acupuncture is included in a number of international guidelines for clinical practice. However, high-quality clinical evidence to support the efficacy and effectiveness of acupuncture is lacking as a result of multiple exceptional clinical trials conducted by Western researchers that have yielded antagonistic results. Future clinical research should focus on exploring objective evaluation methods for studying the therapeutic effects of acupuncture.