Systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture in the treatment of cognitive impairment after stroke

We aim to make a systematic evaluation of the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of cognitive impairment after stroke, to provide evidence-based medical evidence for clinical practice. METHODS: We searched all the randomized controlled trials of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan fang data knowledge service platform, VIP Chinese periodical service platform full-text Journal Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Cochrane Library Database, and PubMed Database about acupuncture treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI). Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted the data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The bias risk assessment manual of Cochrane collaboration Network was used to evaluate the bias risk, and all data were analyzed by Stata16.0. RESULTS: Fourteen articles were included, with a total of 2402 patients. Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture combined with routine therapy could significantly reduce the score of cognitive impairment symptoms compared with the control group. The mini-mental state examination scale (MMSE) score (weighted mean difference [WMD] = 3.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.89–4.56, P < .01), Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA) score (WMD = 3.41, 95% CI: 0.93–5.89, P < .01), Barthel index of activities of daily living (MBI) score (WMD = 4.59, 95% CI: 1.43–7.75, P < .01), and Lowenstein assessment scale (LOTCA) score (WMD = 8.60, 95% CI: 6.32–10.89, P = .00) were significantly improved in the patients receiving group acupuncture combined with routine therapy. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with routine therapy seems to be more effective than conventional therapy alone in the treatment of PSCI. However, the differences between different acupuncture types need to be clarified in more high-quality randomized controlled trials.