A review of the literature on randomized controlled trials of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic-pain syndrome within 2016–2021

Chronic prostatitis (CP)/chronic pelvic-pain syndrome (CPPS) is a common urinary-system disease with a high incidence in young and middle-aged men, seriously affecting patients’ ability to work and their quality of life (QoL). Western medicine (WM) has some limitations in treating CP/CPPS. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical method that is commonly used to treat this condition and has a relatively good effect on it. Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on this subject have been published. For this study, we searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical (VIP), Wanfang, SinoMed, and PubMed databases for RCTs on acupuncture treatment of CP/CPPS in the last 5 years (2016/01/01–2021/12/01). In addition, we conducted analysis and research, aiming to summarize acupuncture treatment in CP/CPPS RCTs and the clinical efficacy, with the goal of providing clinical reference. A total of 466 related documents were retrieved in the search, and 62 articles were retained after screening. We obtained RCT information on acupuncture treatment of CP/CPPS. The results showed that several relevant clinical studies have been performed over the last 5 years and that acupuncture and moxibustion have better curative effect on CP/CPPS than WM. Due to the small number of included studies, more experimental evidence is needed to verify the clinical efficacy of acupuncture.