Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture at Tianshu (ST25) for Functional Constipation: Evidence from 10 Randomized Controlled Trials

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the evidence for the efficacy and safety of acupuncture at Tianshu (ST25) for functional constipation (FC). METHODS: We systematically searched seven databases to identify randomized controlled trials of acupuncture at ST25 alone or in combination with conventional therapy in the treatment of FC. Risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs) were calculated using RevMan 5.3 with 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: The study included ten trials with 1568 participants. Meta-analysis showed that the Cleveland Constipation Score (CCS) for deep needling was significantly lower than that for lactulose (deep needling with low-frequency dilatational wave: MD −0.58, 95% CI −0.94 to −0.22; deep needling with sparse wave: MD −3.67, 95% CI −6.40 to −0.94; deep needling with high-frequency dilatational wave: MD −3.42, 95% CI −5.03 to −1.81). Furthermore, CCS for shallow needling with high-frequency dilatational wave was lower than that for lactulose (MD −1.77, 95% CI −3.40 to −0.14). In addition, when deep needling was combined with high-frequency dilatational wave, the weekly frequency of spontaneous defecation (FSD) was significantly higher than that for lactulose (MD 1.57, 95% CI 0.93 to 2.21). Colonic Transit Time (CTT) scores were significantly higher when deep needling was combined with sparse wave (MD −14.36, 95% CI −18.31 to −10.41) or high-frequency dilatational wave (MD −11.53, 95% CI −19.25 to −3.81). The time of first defecation after treatment (TFD) of the shallow needling therapy was significantly longer than that of the lactulose (MD 13.67, 95% CI 5.66 to 21.67). The CCS 6 months after treatment (CCS6m) for deep needling was significantly lower than that for lactulose (MD −4.90, 95% CI −5.97 to −3.84). Moreover, the FSD 6 months after treatment (FSD6m) for shallow needling was significantly higher than that for lactulose (MD 0.49, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.97). The adverse event (AE) rate for lactulose was significantly higher than that achieved with the needling treatments, and this held true for both deep needling therapy (RR 0.41, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.72) and shallow needling therapy (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis demonstrates that acupuncture at ST25 appears to be more effective than lactulose in the treatment of functional constipation. This was found to be especially true for deep needling with high-frequency dilatational wave, which had a greater impact on improving CCS, FSD, CTT, and CCS6m. Additionally, acupuncture at ST25 was shown to be safer than conventional treatment, with the rate of AE being significantly lower for both deep needling and shallow needling. The trial is registered with https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/(CRD42019141017)).