Network meta-analysis of long-term efficacy of acupuncture-related therapies and SSRIs in treating post-stroke depression

Objective:To evaluate the effect of existing acupuncture-related therapies on the longterm effects of post-stroke depression(PSD)by using a network meta-analysis with SSRIs as a common reference.Methods:The published randomized controlled clinical trials of acupuncture-related therapies and SSRIs for PSD in PubMed,The Cochrane Library,EMbase,CNKI,CBM,VIP and wan-fang databases were comprehensively searched.The literature retrieval period was from The database establishment to July 31,2020.Cochrane Handbook 5.1.0 was used to assess the risk of bias in included studies.Data analysis is conducted through ADDIS,Review Manager 5.3,and STATA 13.1 software.Results:A total of 3115 patients with PSD were included in 30 RCTs,involving 10 therapeutic methods.Results of network meta-analysis showed that:in terms of total effective rate,body acupuncture+SSRIs was superior to body acupuncture[OR=2.85,95%CI(1.51,5.90)]and SSRIs[OR=5.37,95%CI(3.03,10.33)].In terms of HAMD score,body acupuncture+SSRIs was superior to body acupuncture[MD=1.69,95%CI(0.33,3.06)]and SSRIs[MD=3.87,95%CI(2.68,5.08)].The above ranking predicted that moxibustion+SSRIs was the best.In terms of NIHSS score,body acupuncture[MD=2.15,95%CI(1.10,3.26)]and body acupuncture+SSRIs[MD=1.77,95%CI(0.19,3.37)]were better than SSRIs.Conclusion:Moxibustion combined with SSRIs is the best for the long-term efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion on PSD.Body acupuncture combined with SSRIs is better than SSRIs alone.The other therapies have their own advantages and disadvantages.Based on the defects of existing studies,this conclusion still needs to be verified by more high-quality RCTs.

Effectiveness of acupuncture-related therapies on schizophrenia:a Bayesian network Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE:To create the hierarchical model for the comparison of efficacy of different ATs for schizophrenia.METHODS:PubM ed,Web of Science,Embase,The Cochrane Library,ClinicalTrials,China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database,China Science and Technology Journal Database,Wanfang Database,and SinoM ed were searched using a specified search strategy to identify relevant studies up to December 2021.The data were extracted independently by two reviewers.The quality of included trials was evaluated based on the guidelines of“Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions”.Bayesian network metaanalysis was conducted by statistical analysis software Addis 1.16.6 and Stata 15.1.RESULTS:In total,60 randomized controlled trials covering 4810 patients were enrolled.The network metaanalysis result showed that Body Acupuncture(BA),BA+Electro-acupuncture(EA),Scalp Acupuncture(SA)+EA,Auricular Acupuncture(AA),Low-dose medication and Acupuncture(LA),Acupoint Injection(AI),and Acupoint Catgut Embedding(ACE),when combined with Western Medications(WM),demonstrated a better clinical effect at improving the symptoms of schizophrenia,compared to WM alone.Results of rank probability showed that BA,when combined with WM,was the most optimal AT for schizophrenia at decreasing three aspects of PANSS scale score.CONCLUSIONS:Acupuncture-related therapies help improve the symptoms of schizophrenia,and BA combined with WM may be a better therapy for schizophrenia.

A scoping review on traditional medicine for bruxism

Objective:To investigate the current evidence on traditional medicine in managing bruxism and its clinical efficacy.Methods:A search was conducted in nine databases to identify potential eligible articles published from the date of inception until August 3,2022.All clinical studies that used traditional medicine of any type in treating bruxism were eligible for inclusion.Two authors performed data extraction and quality as-sessments independently.Retrieved data were tabulated and discussed narratively.Results:A total of 16 clinical studies were included in this scoping review.Of the 16 studies,three studies were randomized controlled trials,one was a caseecontrol study,10 were case series,and two were case reports.Our review identified studies of interventions based on herbal medicine and acupuncture-related therapies.Most studies reported positive results,but the overall quality of the included studies was typically fair to poor.Conclusions:This study is the first scoping review on traditional medicine for bruxism despite the limited evidence.More research on traditional medicine in bruxism management should be conducted for better clarification and application in daily practice.

Acupuncture Therapy Related Cardiac Injury

Cardiac injury is the most serious adverse event in acupuncture therapy. The causes include needling chest points near the heart, the cardiac enlargement and pericardial effusion that will enlarge the projected area on the body surface and make the proper depth of needling shorter, and the incorrect needling method of the points. Therefore, acupuncture practitioners must be familiar with the points of the heart projected area on the chest and the correct needling methods in order to reduce the risk of acupuncture therapy related cardiac injury.