Efficacy of acupuncture on acute tonsillitis:a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE To systematically assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating acute tonsillitis,providing a reference for clinical decision-making.METHODS We searched PubMed,CENTRAL,Embase,Web of Science,China National Knowledge Infrastruc⁃ture,China Biomedical,clinical research registra⁃tion platforms,grey literature,and the reference lists of the selected studies from inception to Oct.30,2022.The risk of bias assessment used Rev⁃Man.Meta-analysis was performed using STATA with Hedges′g value.In addition,we performed subgroup analysis,meta-regression,and publica⁃tion bias detection with Harbord′s and Egger′s tests.RESULTS We included 19 randomized controlled trials comprising 1701 patients,of which 1 study was assessed high risk of bias.The primary outcome,the response rate,revealed that acupuncture was more effective than antibi⁃otics.The secondary outcomes showed that the difference in the reduction of the VAS scores,sore throat time,and white blood cell counts was statistically significant with acupuncture compared to antibiotics.However,the difference in modulat⁃ing neutrophil percentage and C-reactive protein was not statistically significant.Besides,acupuncture treatments showed a lower incidence of adverse events than antibiotics.CONCLUSION Acupuncture therapy on acute tonsillitis is safe,and the response rate is superior to antibiotics.For alleviating sore throat symptoms,shortening sore throat time,and improving immune in fl am mation index,acupuncture has positive signi fi cance.Nevertheless,because of the limitations of this study,our conclusions should be inter⁃preted with caution.Future efforts still need more high-quality trials to improve the methodology and reporting quality.