Efficacy and safety of therapies related to acupuncture for acute herpes zoster: A PRISMA systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to assess and rank the clinical efficacy of different acupuncture therapies for treating acute herpes zoster (HZ) using a network meta-analysis.
Results Summary
The study found that electroacupuncture (EA) combined with pricking and cupping (PC) was most effective in improving pain scores and reducing the duration of herpes increase, while EA combined with fire needle (FN) had the highest effective rate. PC was also effective in reducing postherpetic neuralgia incidence, and acupuncture-related therapies showed acceptable safety profiles.
Population
3,930 patients with acute herpes zoster (HZ).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
electroacupuncture (EA) + pricking and cupping (PC) | decrease | VAS score | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | shown the best efficacy to improve | #1 |
electroacupuncture (EA) + pricking and cupping (PC) | decrease | DCHI | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | shown the best efficacy to reduce | #2 |
electroacupuncture (EA) + fire needle (FN) | increase | effective rate (ER) | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | had the highest results of probability ranking | #3 |
pricking and cupping (PC) | decrease | incidence of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | was more effective in reducing | #4 |
acupuncture-related therapies | no change | adverse events (AEs) | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | incidence of AEs associated with ... was acceptable | #5 |
therapies related to acupuncture | neutral | acute herpes zoster | patients | - | were both effective and safe in treating | #6 |
therapies related to acupuncture | decrease | patients' symptoms such as pain and skin lesions | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | could significantly reduce | #7 |
therapies related to acupuncture | decrease | adverse events | patients with acute herpes zoster | - | with fewer | #8 |
BACKGROUND: Herpes zoster (HZ) is mainly characterized by intense pain and severe skin lesions, particularly during the acute phase, which seriously affects the patient's quality of life. Acupuncture is a widely used and effective treatment for HZ. However, there are many types of acupuncture, which have different curative efficacy. This study employed a network meta-analysis (NMA) to assess and rank the clinical efficacy of different acupuncture therapies. METHODS: The database of Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese BioMedical Database, VIP Database, and Wanfang Database were searched from inception to December 31, 2022 to identify eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture related therapies in the treatment of acute HZ. The outcome indicators measured were visual analogue scale (VAS), date of cessation of herpes increase (DCHI), effective rate (ER), postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), and adverse events (AEs). Bayesian network meta-analyses were performed using the GeMTC package (version 1.0-1) and R software (version 4.2.3). RESULTS: A total of 59 RCTs with 3930 patients were included. The results of this NMA were as follows: compared with pharmacotherapy, electroacupuncture (EA) + pricking and cupping (PC) shown the best efficacy to improve VAS score and reduce DCHI. In terms of ER, EA + fire needle (FN) had the highest results of probability ranking. PC was more effective in reducing the incidence of PHN. Furthermore, this study shown that the incidence of AEs associated with acupuncture-related therapies was acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that therapies related to acupuncture were both effective and safe in treating acute HZ, and could significantly reduce patients' symptoms such as pain and skin lesions with fewer adverse events. Clinically, the selection of the appropriate therapy should be based on practical considerations. However, due to the limitations of this study, more high-quality trials are required to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture-related therapy for the treatment of acute HZ.