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To explore the influencing factors of acupuncture curative effect in literature of experts' experience. The journal literature of experts' experience was retrieved from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and PubMed, starting from inception to September 4, 2020, and the influencing factors of acupuncture curative effect were extracted and analyzed. A total of 499 articles were included, involving 495 articles in Chinese and 4 articles in English. The influencing factors of acupuncture curative effect mainly include five aspects: diagnostic method, acupoint selection of acupuncture, acupuncture manipulation, regulating mind of acupuncture and acupuncture time, and provide reference for acupuncture protocol design in clinical trials.

Objective: To assess the use of evidence-based research (EBR) approach in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture-related therapies for primary dysmenorrhea (PD). Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Database, and China Science and Technology Journal Database were searched from January 2013 to December 2022 for RCTs of acupuncture on PD. The full text and references of each RCT were read to assess whether systematic reviews (SRs) or other types of studies with similar research questions and end-users' perspectives were cited to justify and design the trial. In addition, the discussion section were analyzed to evaluate whether trials placed the new result in the existing SRs to draw a conclusion. Multivariable logistic regression was used to find variables that associated with 3 aspects of EBR approach: (1) citing clinical studies for justification, (2) citing relevant studies that obtain the perspectives of end users, and (3) citing clinical studies for results discussion. Results: Of 473 RCTs included, 45.67% (216) of the trials cited relevant similar studies, 21.56% (102) referenced to the studies that collected end-users' perspectives, and 10.99% (52) placed result in the context of the previous research. Few RCTs appropriately applied EBR approach. Among all the included studies, 3.17% (15) of the trials used SRs to inform study questions but none of them used updated SRs with acceptable quality; 1.05% (5) of the trials cited SRs of end-user's perspectives in the justification and design of the study, and only 1 trial added results in existing SR to draw a conclusion. Year of publication, language, funding, registration, ethical approval and number of sites were significantly associated with 1 of the 3 aspects of EBR approach. Conclusions: Few RCTs in acupuncture-related therapies for PD used the EBR approach to minimize research redundancy. Researchers, research institutes, funding agencies, ethics committees, journals and peer reviewers in acupuncture should make efforts to use and promote the EBR approach to ensure the value of new trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The body of research on acupuncture as a treatment strategy for fibromyalgia (FM) is steadily growing. This evidence map identifies, describes, and summarizes the current status of studies conducted to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for FM, identify research gaps, and provide information that could guide the design of future studies. Seven electronic databases–Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, China Biomedical Literature Database, VIP, Wanfang Database, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure–were searched for relevant articles on acupuncture for FM. The search period was from the dates of inception of the databases to December 19, 2022. Original clinical studies and systematic reviews on the use of acupuncture-related modalities for the treatment of FM were included. The basic information, quality assessments, and evidence maps of the included studies are presented as charts and bubble plots. The quality assessment tools used for evaluating the different types of studies included in the present study were Cochrane Collaboration's tool, Canadian Institute of Health Economics quality appraisal tool, and A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2. Fifty studies were included in this study. Of these, 39 (78.00%) were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 6 (12.0%) were case series, and 5 (10.0%) were systematic reviews. The included studies focused on manual acupuncture and conventional treatment in the treatment and control groups, respectively. The outcomes analyzed in the RCTs included pain (94.9%), sleep quality (46.2%), depression (46.2%), physical function (46.2%), stiffness (35.9%), well-being (35.9%), work status (35.9%), anxiety (33.3%), fatigue (33.3%), quality of life (17.9%), and overall effective rate (10.3%). The methodological quality of most of the studies was low or critically low regardless of the study design. In most studies, the therapeutic effect of acupuncture was significantly superior to that of the comparator. This evidence map suggests that acupuncture-related modalities may be promising options for FM management. However, various studies on this topic have a high risk of bias or are of low quality. Further evidence-based research should be conducted to rigorously examine the efficacy of acupuncture for FM and promote generalizability of the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acupuncture is used to relieve symptoms, reducing recurrence, and improve the lives of patients with skin diseases. To identify, describe, and organize the available evidence on acupuncture for atopic eczema (AE) using evidence mapping of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), systematic reviews (SRs), and meta-analyses. We searched eight databases from inception to October 30, 2021, for RCTs, SRs, and meta-analyses of acupuncture for patients with AE. Two reviewers screened the papers, before extracting the data and assessing the quality of the included studies. The basic and clinical characteristics, and quality of assessment of the studies were assessed using descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses. A bubble plot was used to visualize the evidence map to indicate the relationship between the type and frequency of outcomes, the quality and overall effects of acupuncture, and the outcomes of the studies. Forty-five studies (40 RCTs, five SRs, and meta-analyses) were included. The number of publications increased rapidly after 2013 and peaked in 2019. The most frequently applied intervention was one type of acupuncture therapy. The most frequent comparison was between acupuncture and active medicine. The symptomatic outcome was the most commonly used, and the quality of the included studies was relatively low. All included studies showed a significantly better outcome in the acupuncture group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Most outcomes in the included studies were of low or critically low quality. Several symptomatic outcomes and health-related quality of life outcomes in the included RCTs indicated moderate quality, while some symptomatic outcomes and global symptom improvement in the included SRs and meta-analyses indicated low quality. The majority of studies related to acupuncture for AE indicated promising results, but with relatively low quality; thus, further studies with more robust designs should be conducted to validate the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]