Effectiveness of Electroacupuncture for Simple Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture in the treatment of simple obesity. METHODS: Randomized clinical trials concerning electroacupuncture as a treatment of simple obesity published prior to October 31, 2019, were searched in the following Chinese and English databases: Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus. After data collection and quality evaluation, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software and Stata 15.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies involving 937 patients with simple obesity were included in the meta-analysis. Results revealed that the total effective rate (RR = 1.29, 95% CI [1.13, 1.48]; P=0.0002), BMI (MD = −1.82, 95% CI [−2.21, −1.43]; P < 0.000), waist circumference (MD = −2.39, 95% CI [−3.95, −0.84]; P=0.003), hip circumference (MD = 0.31, 95% CI [−2.37, 2.99]; P=0.82), waist-hip ratio (MD = −0.05, 95% CI [−0.07, −0.03]; P < 0.00), and body fat rate (MD = −1.56, 95% CI [−2.35, −0.78]; P=0.0001) in the electroacupuncture group were superior to those in the control group. Analysis of acupoint clustering and correlation using SPSS 24.0 and Clementine 12.0 revealed the highest statistical support for acupoint groups CV12-CV4 and CV12-ST25-CV4, while ST36-CV12-ST25, SP6, and ST40-ST24-SP15-ST37-CV4 were found to be validly clustered acupoints. CONCLUSION: For treating simple obesity, electroacupuncture is superior to other interventions such as acupuncture, acupoint catgut embedding therapy, and simple lifestyle modification for improvement in body fat rate, waist circumference, and waist-hip ratio, although not hip circumference. Acupoint analysis revealed that ST25, CV12, CV4, SP6, and ST36 can form the basis for electroacupuncture therapy for the treatment of simple obesity.