Safety Of Acupuncture Research Articles

Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture Combined with Herbal Medicine in Treating Gouty Arthritis: Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background Gouty arthritis is a common metabolic disease caused by long-term purine metabolism and elevated serum uric acid. In recent years, the incidence of gouty arthritis has been increasing year by year. As an effective method for treating gouty arthritis, acupuncture combined with herbal medicine has been widely used in clinical practice. However, the evidence for the treatment needs to be evaluated through systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, China CBM database, Clinical Trials, CNKI, China Wanfang database, and VIP information database were searched from the establishment of each database to March 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the study, and the therapeutic effects of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine versus conventional therapy, or acupuncture combined with herbal medicine versus anti-inflammatory drugs, or acupuncture combined with herbal medicine versus acupuncture/herbal medicine alone were compared in the subjects with gouty arthritis. Two authors screened all references, assessed the risk of bias, and independently extracted the data. The binary outcome was summarized using 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and risk ratios (RRs). The overall quality of the evidence was assessed with hierarchy, and meta-analysis was performed with a random-effects model. Results A total of 14 randomized controlled trials (1,065 participants, 540 treatment groups, and 525 control groups) with treatment courses of 5 to 21 days were included. Acupuncture combined with herbal medicine and acupuncture was compared in three trials, acupuncture combined with herbal medicine and conventional therapy was compared in 14 of them, and acupuncture combined with herbal medicine and anti-inflammatory drugs was compared in 8 of them. The clinical efficacy (clinical symptoms, serological tests, and visual analogue scale (VAS) results) was significantly improved in the acupuncture combined with herbal medicine treatment group (P=0.0005, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.13; 687 participants; 8 trials), and the efficacy in reducing uric acid was also better (P < 0.00001; 95% CI −102.89, −68.37; 100 participants; 2 trials; evidence with moderate quality). The effect of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine was better than that of acupuncture alone (RR 1.22, 95%CI 1.06 to 1.41; 139 participants; 3 trials), the effect of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine was better than that of herbal medicine alone (RR 1.31 95%CI 1.08 to 1.57, 100 participants, 2 trials, evidence with moderate quality), and the effect of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine was better than that of colchicine (P = 0.02, RR 1.14 95%CI 1.02 to 1.27, 2 trials, evidence with moderate quality). The incidence of adverse events was considerably different between the two groups, and the acupuncture combined with herbal medicine group was significantly superior to the control group in terms of adverse events (P < 0.00001; 95% CI (0.08 to 0.32)). Conclusions The efficacy of acupuncture combined with herbal medicine was better than conventional drug therapy in treating gouty arthritis. The study results must be interpreted with caution due to the high or unclear risk of bias of the trials included in the study. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020202544. INPLASY registration number: 202090006.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of angina pectoris of coronary heart disease (CHD): A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis.

Background:Coronary heart disease (CHD) angina pectoris is a clinical syndrome in which episodic chest pain or chest discomfort is the main manifestation of temporary ischemia and hypoxia of the myocardium due to coronary atherosclerosis and coronary artery functional changes (spasm). A large amount of clinical evidence confirms that acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris can relieve the symptoms of angina pectoris and improve the performance of electrocardiograph ischemia; It still has obvious therapeutic effects in regulating the levels of cardiovascular regulatory peptides ET and cGRP. To better evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris, we designed a systematic evaluation program to provide a reliable scientific basis for the future use of this method.Methods:Search Pubmed database, Embase, Cochrane library, Chinese Biomedical Literature CD-ROM Database (CBMdisk), China Journal Network Full-text Database (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Web of Science (SCI-E), the retrieval time is established from each database Until October 2021, search for relevant eligible randomized controlled trials with keywords or subject terms “acupuncture”, “Chinese herbal medicine”, and “CHD angina”. Outcome indicators were clinical symptoms of CHD and angina pectoris, changes in electrocardiogram, changes in blood lipids, and significant improvement in traditional Chinese medicine syndromes before and after treatment. Two researchers independently carried out data extraction and quality assessment, and use RevMan5.3 software to carry out final data analysis and assessment.Results:This study provides a reliable clinical scientific basis for acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of CHD and angina pectoris.Conclusion:Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine can effectively relieve the clinical symptoms of CHD and angina pectoris and improve the performance of electrocardiograph. At the same time, it can reduce the cardiovascular regulatory peptide ET and increase the level of cGRP in the patient's plasma, thus confirming its effectiveness and safety.

Acupuncture for the Adjunctive Therapy of Post-stoke Fatigue: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The aim of this research is to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation therapy for post-stroke fatigue. The methods used in this research are as follows: systematically retrieving China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, Chinese Biological Medicine Database, Cochrane Library, Medline and Embase were electronically searched from inception to Dec 2020. The dataset included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with Chinese and English only that compared acupuncture as an adjunct to rehabilitation in stroke patients with fatigue. The methodological quality of the included trials was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool. Statistical analyses were performed by RevMan V.5.4.A total of 6 RCTs were included in this study, including 426 cases (213 cases in the treatment group and 213 cases in the control group). The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with conventional treatment, acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy can significantly reduce the incidence of post-stroke fatigue [MD = -5.45, 95% CI = (-6.75, -4.14), Z = 8.19 (P &lt; 0.001)]. In terms of energy, acupuncture also has an obvious effect [MD = 1.69, 95% CI = (0.27, 3.12), Z = 2.33 (P &lt; 0.02)]. Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that acupuncture combined with conventional rehabilitation therapy is an effective therapy for patients suffering from post-stroke fatigue, which is suitable for clinical promotion and use. However, due to methodological weakness and limited number of RCTs, the results should be interpreted cautiously. Further clinical trials with large sample sizes and a rigorous design are needed.

The Effectiveness and Safety of Chemical Drugs Combined with Acupuncture for Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Acupuncture has been applied with chemical drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the clinic. Whether such combination is effective and safe should be studied although it is recommended by some researchers.&lt;br/&gt; Methods: To explore the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with chemical drugs for AD, databases like PubMed, Web of Science were searched to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on AD treated with acupuncture and chemical drugs to perform meta-analysis. The risk of bias in each study was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Meta- analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3.&lt;br/&gt; Results: Five studies were included in which only donepezil combined with acupuncture was evaluated. Acupuncture combined with donepezil showed a significant difference in effectiveness rate [RR=1.45, 95% CI (1.19, 1.77), P =0.0002] compared with donepezil. On the comparison of mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score and Alzheimer's disease assessment scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) score there was no difference. However, after one trial with severe AD patients was removed, acupuncture combined with donepezil showed better effect than donepezil alone.&lt;br/&gt; Conclusion: Acupuncture combined with donepezil could work on AD at the early stage or being mild, implying that acupuncture could be a complementary therapy for AD at the early stage or being mild. Besides, scalp acupuncture seems to be more effective on improving cognitive function. However, this conclusion must be considered cautiously, given the small sample size and lack of trials with high quality. Therefore, more high-quality, multicenter, prospective RCTs with large sample sizes are needed to further clarify the effect of acupuncture combined with chemical drugs for AD.

Acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for dry eye disease: a network Meta-analysis of rando-mized controlled trial

A network Meta-analysis based on Bayesian theory was used to evaluate efficacy and safety of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of dry eye disease(DED), so as to provide evidence-based research basis for clinical application. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) for acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of DED published from the inception of database to November 25, 2020 were searched from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Sinomed, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP Database. Two reviewers independently screened the literatures, extracted the data. The quality of the included literature was evaluated, and network Meta-analysis was performed by using Stata14.0 and R4.0.3 software. A total of 71 literatures were identified, including 5 536 patients with DED, covering 11 different interventions. Network Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture+traditional Chinese medicine+artificial tears was the best treatment option in terms of the clinical effective rate, breakup time of tear film (BUT), Schirmer I test (SIT) with surface under cumulative ranking area value. Acupuncture+traditional Chinese medicine+artificial tears was better than artificial tears in the clinical effective rate (odds ratio［OR］=12.34, 95% confidence interval［CI］［4.72, 36.89］), BUT(mean differenc［MD］=2.76, 95%CI［0.16, 5.40］), SIT(MD=4.76, 95%CI［1.23, 8.29］). Acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of DED are generally better than artificial tears, and acupuncture-moxibustion combined with other traditional Chinese medicine therapy has the best effect.

Therapeutic effect of acupuncture combined montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Cough variant asthma in children is a special type of asthma. Although there are many effective cases of combined acupuncture and western medicine in the clinical treatment of this kind of children, there is no standardized acupuncture combined with western medicine to evaluate the curative effect. Therefore, combined with existing reports, a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium in the treatment of cough variant asthma in children were carried out to obtain conclusive results.Methods:The following electronic databases will be searched: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, CNKI, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP, and Wan Fang databases. We will consider articles published between database initiation and October 2021. We will use Review Manager 5.4, provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. Clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children were included in this study. Language is limited to both Chinese and English. Research selection, data extraction, and research quality assessments were independently completed by two researchers. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures.Results:This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium on cough variant asthma in children.Conclusion:This systematic review will provide evidence to determine whether acupuncture combined with montelukast sodium is an effective and safe intervention for patients with cough variant asthma in children.INPLASY Registration number:INPLASY2021110006.

Efficacy and safety evaluation of acupuncture in the treatment of impaired glucose regulation: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Impaired of glucose regulation belongs to the stage of prediabetes, which is a state of glucose metabolism between diabetes and normal blood glucose. The prevalence of prediabetes in people over 20 years old in China is significantly higher than that in diabetic patients. If no measures are taken to prevent the transition from prediabetes to diabetes, the number of diabetic patients in China will further increase. This study conducted a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of impaired glucose regulation by collecting relevant literatures.Methods:Nine electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of Science, Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese Scientific and Journal Database, Wan Fang database, and 2 clinical trials register platforms: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov (www.ClinicalTrials.gov/) will be searched for randomized clinical trails of acupuncture for impaired glucose regulation. The screening process will be developed by 2 independent reviewers, and meta-analysis will be performed with RevMan (V5.3.5) software.Results:This meta-analysis further confirmed the benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of impaired of glucose regulation.Conclusion:This study will provide a high-quality evidence of the efficacy and safety of acupuncture on patients with impaired glucose regulation.PROSPERO registration number:INPLASY202170058.Ethics and dissemination:This systematics review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of impaired of glucose regulation. Since all the data included were published, the systematic review did not require ethical approval.

Acupuncture and related therapies for carpal tunnel syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.

Background:Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral nerve compression syndrome of the upper limb. Plenty of studies showed the effects of acupuncture therapy on relieving pain and improving functional status for CTS patients. Diverse types of acupuncture therapies have been used in the treatment for CTS, but their relative treatment effects are poorly understood. This study will evaluate the effects of different acupuncture and related therapies for CTS by conducting a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA).Methods:We will search randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture and related therapies for CTS in MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP Database, Wanfang Database, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, ClinicalTrials.gov, Chinese Clinical Trial Register, and OpenGrey from inception to November 2021. Then, we will select eligible studies, extract data, and conduct risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane tool. Pairwise meta-analysis and Bayesian NMA will be performed in Stata 15.1 software and Aggregate Data Drug Information System 1.16.8 software. We will assess the quality of the evidence using the Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis application.Results:In this study, the treatment effects and safety of different acupuncture and related therapies for CTS will be evaluated.Conclusion:This study will provide evidence for choosing the optimal acupuncture and related therapies in the treatment for CTS.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined Chinese herbal medicine for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine has been widely utilized for pain management in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). However, its results are still inconsistent, and no systematic review has specifically addressed this issue. Thus, this systematic review will comprehensively and systematically investigate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for pain relief in DPN.Methods:Randomized controlled trials on acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine treatment of DPN published before September of 2021 will be searched in 9 databases including Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database, Sinomed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, and China Science and Technology Journal Database. The methodological assessment performed using the risk of bias assessment tool of Cochrane, and the level of evidence quality for the main results will be evaluated by a recommended grading, evaluation, formulation, and evaluation system approach. Bayesian network meta-analysis will be conducted using STATA V.14.0 and WinBUGS V.1.4.3.Results:This study will provide a high-quality comprehensive evaluation of the safety of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine for treating DPN.Conclusion:This systematic review will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine combined with acupuncture in the treatment of DPN, and provide the latest evidence for clinical application.Ethics and dissemination:The protocol of the systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences.Registration number: INPLASY2021100004.

Acupuncture for Quality of Life of Patients with Defecation Dysfunction after Sphincter Preserving Surgery for Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review.

Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for quality of life of patients with defecation dysfunction (DD) after sphincter preserving surgery for rectal cancer. Methods We searched nine online databases from inception to July 1, 2021, and did not restrict the type of language. Then, studies were independently selected by two research team members with screening criteria and risk bias assessment, and the data were extracted. The primary outcome was Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 29 (QLQ-CR29). The data were then synthesized using the RevMan V.5.2 by random-effects model. Also, we used the standardized mean differences with 95% credible interval (CI) to describe the outcome of the analysis. Results A total of 6 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (with 439 patients) were included in the systematic review, and data from 2 RCTs (with 200 patients) were used in the meta-analysis. Five studies (83%) were judged to have a medium risk of bias, and one was at high risk of bias. For synthesis, data from two medium-risk studies found that acupuncture or electropuncture may improve the QLQ-CR29 with urination (mean difference, −0.39 points; 95%CI, −0.46 to −0.32; I2 = 34%), abdominal pain (mean difference, −0.71 points; 95%CI, −0.89 to −0.54; I2 = 9%), stool (mean difference, −0.49 points; 95%CI, −0.77 to −0.20; I2 = 57%), defecation (mean difference, −0.59 points; 95% CI, −0.85 to −0.33; I2 = 51%), sexual function (mean difference, 0.93 points; 95% CI, 0.48 to 1.38; I2 = 90%), and self-feelings (mean difference, 1.04 points; 95% CI, 0.36 to 1.73; I2 = 94%). Conclusion Findings in this study indicate that acupuncture or electropuncture may be effective and safe for DD, but the quality of included studies was very low. So, more large-scale, multicenter, long-term, and high-quality original research is still expected in the future.

경행두통(經行頭痛)의 한의치료 적용 가능성에 대한 문헌 데이터 분석

This study is a pilot systematic review on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for menstrual headaches. Finally, seven documents were included and analyzed according to the protocol. When comparing the treatment effect with total effectiveness as an outcome variable, we found that acupuncture treatment has a therapeutic benefit compared to Western medicine treatment. In addition, there were no reports of adverse events caused by acupuncture treatment. However, it is difficult to conclude the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment due to the small sample size and a sufficient risk of bias in the included studies.

Effect of acupuncture on menopausal hot flushes and serum hormone levels: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

To evaluate the efficacy/effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for the treatment of hot flushes and its impact on serum hormone levels in menopausal women. A total of 10 databases were searched from their inception to August 2018. Reference lists of reviews and included articles were also hand-searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effect of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture, or acupuncture versus hormone therapy (HT), as treatment for menopausal hot flushes were included. Outcomes included hot flush frequency, hot flush severity and serum hormone levels of estradiol (E2), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Meta-analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.3 software. Thirteen RCTs including 1784 patients were selected, seven of which were available for meta-analysis. Compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture significantly decreased hot flush frequency (mean difference (MD) -0.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-1.64, -0.05], I2 = 54%) from baseline to the end of study, but did not impact end scores of hot flush frequency (MD 0.19, 95% CI [-0.61, 0.99], I2 = 0%) or severity (MD 0.02, 95% CI [-0.13, 0.17], I2 = 0%). No differences were found between acupuncture and HT in serum levels of E2 (MD 6.56, 95% CI [-3.77, 16.89], I2 = 76%), FSH (MD 1.06, 95% CI [-1.44, 3.56], I2 = 0%) or LH (MD -3.36, 95% CI [-13.37, 6.65], I2 = 89%). Acupuncture may not decrease hot flush frequency, but yet appears to have similar effects on serum hormone levels as HT, that is, increased E2 and decreased FSH and LH. Considering that no firm conclusions could be drawn due to the low quality and limited number of included trials included, further high-quality RCTs need to be conducted.

Effect of Acupuncture on Outcomes of in vitro Fertilisation: A Scoping Review.

To identify, examine and summarize the available evidence on the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) outcomes. Eight electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Review, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Database and VIP Database, were searched, supplemented by manual searches. Two researchers independently conducted the literature screening, data extraction, and methodological quality assessments. A narrative description was provided to show the general information and specific characteristics of the included studies. A bubble plot was used to visually display the overall effects of acupuncture on IVF outcomes. Eighty-two studies were identified, including 64 primary studies and 18 systematic reviews. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation, electric acupuncture and manual acupuncture were applied in most studies and compared with no acupuncture, sham acupuncture and placebo acupuncture control groups. Sixty-three (98.4%) primary studies reported clinical pregnancy rate, and positive effects of acupuncture were found in 34 studies (54.0%). Live birth rate was reported in only 18 (28.1%) primary studies, of which 10 (55.6%) showed positive results. In addition, only 8 and 2 systematic reviews showed that acupuncture could increase clinical pregnancy events and live birth events, respectively. However, none of these reviews was of high methodological quality. Available evidence suggests that acupuncture therapy could improve clinical pregnancy rates. However, whether acupuncture could increase live birth events was difficult to determine based on the few studies that have reported this outcome indicator. Furthermore, the methodological quality of most systematic reviews was assessed as critically low or low. Studies with a rigorous design and standardized implementation should be performed to refine the available evidence.

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for adenomyosis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BackgroundAdenomyosis (AM) is a disease in which the endometrium (including glands and stroma) invades the myometrium and grows. The main clinical symptoms include menorrhagia, dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain, metrorrhagia, and dyspareunia, which will seriously affect the physical and mental health of patients, and most of which occur in women of childbearing age. Acupuncture, as a special external treatment of Traditional Chinese medicine, has shown good effects in the treatment of adenomyosis. At present, there is a lack of systematic review on acupuncture in the treatment of adenomyosis. We conduct this study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of adenomyosis.MethodsWe will search Chinese and English databases: Medline, Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific and Journal Database, Wan Fang database (Wanfang), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) to identify articles of randomized clinical trials of acupuncture for adenomyosis. All above electronic databases will be searched from inception to September 30, 2021. RevMan 5.3 software will be used to conduct this systematic review. No language and publication status restrictions will be applied.ResultsThe study will prove the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for adenomyosis.ConclusionWe plan to submit this systematic review to a peer-reviewed journal.Trial registration numberCRD42021277136.

Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of chronic prostatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective:Chronic prostatitis (CP) is a common disease in the outpatient department of males and urology. Clinical studies have found that acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has achieved good results in treating CP, but its efficacy and safety are not completely clear. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with TCM in the treatment of CP.Methods:Randomized controlled trials of acupuncture combined with TCM in treating CP were screened by searching PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, etc. The retrieval time was from the database establishment date to March 31, 2021. The Cochrane Collaborative Risk Bias Assessment tool was used to evaluate literature's methodological quality of the literature. The RevMan5.4 software was used for the meta-analysis of outcome indicators. The TSA v0.9 software was used for sequential trial analysis (TSA) of effectiveness.Results:In this study, 19 related randomized controlled trial studies were included, with a total of 1831 cases. The results of the meta-analysis showed that acupuncture combined with TCM could significantly improve the clinical efficacy of CP (OR = 3.76, 95%CI: 2.82 to 5.02, P < .00001), reduce the total score of The National Institutes of Health chronic prostatitis symptom index (MD = −4.00, 95%CI: −4.67 to 3.33, P < .00001), and improve patients’ urination symptoms (MD = −1.10, 95%CI: −1.23 to −0.97, P < .00001), alleviated the pain symptoms of patients (MD = −2.38, 95%CI: −2.41 to −2.35, P < .00001), improved the quality of life of patients (MD = −1.69, 95%CI: −1.97 to −1.41, P < .00001), decreased the scores of TCM symptoms of patients (MD = −2.39, 95%CI: −3.45 to −1.33, P < .00001), and did not increase the adverse reactions of patients (MD = 1.09, 95%CI: 0.57 to 2.06, P = .8). The results of publication bias showed that this study was not affected by publication bias, and the conclusion was reliable. TSA showed that acupuncture combined with TCM was effective in treating CP.Conclusion:Acupuncture combined with TCM is safe and effective for alleviating CP. It can be used as an effective treatment for chronic prostatitis in the clinic.Registration number: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/Z8FJM.

Acupuncture for headache in COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease which making people difficult to breathe and often accompanied with headache. Acupuncture have been proved the therapeutic effect on headache, but there has been no high-quality evidence on acupuncture for the headache in COVID-19. This study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for headache in COVID-19.Methods:Randomized controlled trials from December 2019 to July 2021 will be included without restrictions on language or publication date. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Databases, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, and VIP database will be searched. Two researchers will independently select studies, extract data and evaluate study quality. Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials will be used to assess the risk of bias of included studies. Statistical analyses will be performed using the Review Manager V.5.3 and stata 14.0.Ethics and dissemination:This study will not involve personal information. Ethical approval will not be required. We will publish the results in a peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO Trial registration number:CRD42021270722

Acupuncture for oligospermia and asthenozoospermia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Acupuncture is widely used for oligospermia and asthenozoospermia in China, but its effect is unclear. We aimed to determine the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in treating oligospermia and asthenozoospermia.Methods:An electronic search for randomized controlled trials evaluating acupuncture treatment in patients with oligospermia and asthenozoospermia published from database inception to October 2018 was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP Database), the Wan-Fang Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Cochrane Library. We established search terms related to 3 areas (oligospermia, asthenozoospermia, and acupuncture). Two authors independently screened all identified citations and extracted the data. The methodological quality of the included trials was assessed using the Cochrane criteria.Results:Seven studies with a total of 527 subjects were screened according to inclusion and exclusion standards, and most of the studies had significant methodological weaknesses. Seven randomized controlled trials tested the effects of acupuncture compared with placebo acupuncture and conventional medications in patients with oligospermia and asthenozoospermia. The results of this study suggest that acupuncture alone has no clear superiority in improving sperm motility (standard mean difference [SMD] = 1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.64 to 2.89), the sperm concentration (SMD = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.27–0.92) or semen volume compared with placebo acupuncture. No significant difference was found between acupuncture alone and conventional medications in improving sperm motility (SMD = −0.53, 95% CI: −2.54 to 1.48), the sperm concentration (SMD = −1.10, 95% CI: −1.48 to −0.72) or semen volume. However, adjuvant acupuncture may enhance the effect of medications on improving sperm motility (SMD = 4.10, 95% CI: 1.09–7.12) and the sperm concentration (SMD = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.739–1.40), but the study heterogeneity was too high to establish robust conclusions.Conclusion:These results suggest that the current evidence does not support acupuncture as an effective treatment for oligospermia and asthenozoospermia; therefore, acupuncture is not currently recommended as a treatment for these conditions. However, owing to the high risk of bias among the included studies, the evidence is limited, and more large-scale, high-quality clinical trials are needed in the future.Trial registration number:PROSPERO CRD42018083885

Acupuncture combine with Tuina for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background:Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus, with an incidence ranging from 60% to 90%. With the change in modern dietary structure, the incidence of diabetes is increasing year by year, and DPN is also on the rise. Acupuncture and Tuina treatments are often combined to treat DPN; however, there has been no meta-analysis on their synergistic effect; therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with Tuina in DPN treatment.Methods:Nine electronic databases were retrieved for this study. The English databases mainly retrieved PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, AMED, and the Cochrane Library, while the CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang databases were used to retrieve the Chinese literature; there was no definite time limit for the retrieval literature, and the languages were limited to Chinese and English. We will consider articles published between database initiation and November 2021. We used Review Manager 5.4 software provided by the Cochrane Collaborative Network for statistical analysis. We then assessed the quality and risk of the included studies and observed the outcome measures.Results:This study provides a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with Tuina for treating DPN.Conclusion:This systematic review provided evidence to determine whether acupuncture combined with Tuina is an effective and safe intervention for patients with DPN.Ethics and dissemination:The protocol for this systematic review does not require ethical approval because it does not involve humans. This article will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant conferences.Systematic review registration:INPLASY2021110017

Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for irregular menstruation

Abstract Introduction: Irregular menstruation, a common gynecological disease, mainly refers to the syndrome of abnormal menstrual cycle or menstrual period, which is more common in adolescent or menopausal women. In modern medicine, the mostly used therapy is hormone. Although it has obvious therapeutic effect in the short term, repeated use of sex hormone therapy often has more side effects and higher recurrence rate. The implementation of acupuncture artificial cycle therapy according to the change of female menstrual cycle can achieve remarkable results. A network meta-analysis could be feasible to assess the efficacy and safety of various acupuncture for irregular menstruation. Methods: A comprehensive literature search will be conducted in both English and Chinese database, including Medline, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chongqing VIP Database, and Chinese Biological and Medical database, from inception to October 2021. Two reviewers will independently accomplish the data extraction and bias assessment. RevMan 5.3, ADDIS 1.16.8, Open BUGS 3.2.3, and Stata 14.0 will be used for paired and network meta-analysis. Conclusions: The findings of the study will help to evaluate the efficacy and safety of various acupuncture in the treatment of irregular menstruation.

Effect of electro-acupuncture on ovarian function of women with diminished ovarian reserve: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundDiminished ovarian reserve (DOR) is the precursor state of ovarian failure and can cause the decline of women’s reproductive function. DOR also leads to poor outcome of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) by affecting the oocytes, high qualified embryo rate, pregnancy rate, etc. Some studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can improve ovarian function. But to date, there is limited evidence indicating that acupuncture or electro-acupuncture is efficient to DOR. This trial aims to evaluate the efficiency and safety of electro-acupuncture for the ovarian function and the following outcome of IVF-ET in DOR patients.MethodsThis will be a multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial. A total of more than 338 women with DOR will be randomly allocated to treatment and control groups in 1:1 ratio receiving acupuncture before undergoing IVF-ET. The primary outcome will be the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle of IVF-ET after acupuncture. The secondary outcomes will be ovarian reserve function, outcomes of IVT-ET, blood biochemical index, Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale (MASS), scores from the self-rating anxiety and depression scale, quality of life, and pregnancy outcomes. The safety of acupuncture will also be assessed.DiscussionThe results of this trial may provide high-quality evidence regarding the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture in the treatment of DOR and following outcomes of IVF-ET. This will also help patients with DOR and their physicians by offering a new treatment option.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900024626. Registered on 19 July 2019.