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Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is widely used for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in China but its effect is unclear. We aim to evaluate the effect and safety of acupuncture for PHN. METHODS: The Cochrane Skin Group Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, the Chin...

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Autores principales: Wang, Yang, Li, Wang, Peng, Weina, Zhou, Jing, Liu, Zhishun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Wolters Kluwer Health 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6113033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30142834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000011986
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author Wang, Yang
Li, Wang
Peng, Weina
Zhou, Jing
Liu, Zhishun
author_facet Wang, Yang
Li, Wang
Peng, Weina
Zhou, Jing
Liu, Zhishun
author_sort Wang, Yang
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is widely used for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in China but its effect is unclear. We aim to evaluate the effect and safety of acupuncture for PHN. METHODS: The Cochrane Skin Group Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the gray literature were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acupuncture alone versus no treatment/another active therapy/sham acupuncture, or comparing acupuncture with another active therapy versus the same active therapy were included. RESULTS: Seven RCTs comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included. Meta-analysis was conducted for acupuncture's effect on PHN evaluating by pain intensity. Results from 2 RCTs showed that compared with pharmacologic therapy, acupuncture was better in decreasing the pain intensity measured by visual analog scale score (mean difference: 1.80, 95% confidence interval 1.72–1.87; P < .001). The limitations of the study are as follows: only trials comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included and all of the included trials were performed in China. CONCLUSION: There was not enough evidence to suggest that acupuncture was superior to pharmacologic therapy in improving global impression or life quality. No adverse effects about acupuncture were reported. In all, acupuncture is safe and might be effective in pain relieving for patients with PHN. Given the low quality of included studies, the results are not conclusive and more large-scale RCTs with high quality are needed.
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spelling pubmed-61130332018-09-07 Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis Wang, Yang Li, Wang Peng, Weina Zhou, Jing Liu, Zhishun Medicine (Baltimore) Research Article BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is widely used for postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) in China but its effect is unclear. We aim to evaluate the effect and safety of acupuncture for PHN. METHODS: The Cochrane Skin Group Trials Register, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and the gray literature were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acupuncture alone versus no treatment/another active therapy/sham acupuncture, or comparing acupuncture with another active therapy versus the same active therapy were included. RESULTS: Seven RCTs comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included. Meta-analysis was conducted for acupuncture's effect on PHN evaluating by pain intensity. Results from 2 RCTs showed that compared with pharmacologic therapy, acupuncture was better in decreasing the pain intensity measured by visual analog scale score (mean difference: 1.80, 95% confidence interval 1.72–1.87; P < .001). The limitations of the study are as follows: only trials comparing acupuncture versus pharmacologic therapy were included and all of the included trials were performed in China. CONCLUSION: There was not enough evidence to suggest that acupuncture was superior to pharmacologic therapy in improving global impression or life quality. No adverse effects about acupuncture were reported. In all, acupuncture is safe and might be effective in pain relieving for patients with PHN. Given the low quality of included studies, the results are not conclusive and more large-scale RCTs with high quality are needed. Wolters Kluwer Health 2018-08-24 /pmc/articles/PMC6113033/ /pubmed/30142834 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000011986 Text en Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
spellingShingle Research Article
Wang, Yang
Li, Wang
Peng, Weina
Zhou, Jing
Liu, Zhishun
Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title_fullStr Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title_short Acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: Systematic review and meta-analysis
title_sort acupuncture for postherpetic neuralgia: systematic review and meta-analysis
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6113033/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30142834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000011986
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