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Review
. 2021 Apr 2:2021:6694936.
doi: 10.1155/2021/6694936. eCollection 2021.

Acupuncture Treatment for Cough-Variant Asthma: A Meta-Analysis

Jian Xiong  1 , WenChuan Qi  1 , Han Yang  1 , SiTing Zou  2 , Jing Kong  1 , ChengLong Wang  3 , YuanFang Zhou  1 , FanRong Liang  1
Affiliations
Review

Acupuncture Treatment for Cough-Variant Asthma: A Meta-Analysis

Jian Xiong et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. .

Abstract

Background: In recent years, there have been many clinical reports on acupuncture treatment of cough-variant asthma, but no researcher has objectively analysed and evaluated the efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment of cough-variant asthma from the perspective of evidence-based medicine.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating cough-variant asthma and to provide reference values for clinical decision-making.

Methods: The comprehensive computer retrieval Chinese journal full-text database (CNKI), Chinese science and technology periodical database (VIP), ten thousand data knowledge service platform (WanFang Data), PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were used to collect literature for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCT) of acupuncture treatment of cough-variant asthma, as well as to retrieve papers and add reference retrieval after literature review, in accordance with the standard of literature filtering, data extraction, and quality evaluation. The data were meta-analysed using ReviewManager5.3 software recommended by Cochrane.

Results: A total of 11 randomized controlled clinical studies were screened and included, comprising 929 patients. The results of the meta-analysis showed that, compared with the control group, acupuncture intervention on CVA could enhance the total clinical effectiveness rate, reduce the relapse rate of drug withdrawal, relieve symptoms of cough, phlegm, and diaphragmatic congestion, and improve lung function-related indicators and immune inflammation indicators. There were statistically significant differences in all efficacy evaluation criteria.

Conclusion: The clinical curative effect of acupuncture treatment for cough-variant asthma is precise and has certain advantages in relieving symptoms and reducing the recurrence rate. However, the low quality of the evaluation in the RCT research literature is a problem, and more high-quality clinical randomized controlled trials are needed to further verify the comprehensive clinical efficacy and safety of this treatment. Registration number: PROSPERO (no. CRD42020155244) (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Literature screening flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The overall risk bias assessment chart of the included literature.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The chart of risk bias assessment of a single item in the included literature.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot for the total effective rate of acupuncture treatment for CVA.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Funnel plot of the total effective rate of CVA treated by acupuncture.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot of the meta-analysis of CVA recurrence rate in acupuncture treatment.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Forest plot of the meta-analysis of CVA cough symptom scores treated by acupuncture.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Forest plot of meta-analysis of CVA cough symptom scores with acupuncture treatment.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Forest plot of the CVA diaphragmatic fullness symptom score after acupuncture treatment.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Forest plot of PEF, pulmonary function index of CVA treated by acupuncture.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Forest plot of the meta-analysis of FVC and pulmonary function index of CVA treated by acupuncture.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Forest plot of meta-analysis on pulmonary function index FEV1 for CVA treated with acupuncture.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Forest plot of CRP and biochemical index of CVA treated by acupuncture.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Forest plot of CRP and biochemical index of CVA treated by acupuncture.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Forest plot of CVA biochemical indicator IgE with acupuncture treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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