Acupoint stimulation intervention for people with primary dysmenorrhea: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials

作者：Chung Yu Chu; Chen Hsing Hsia; Yeh Mei Ling^*

来源：Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2012, 20(5): 353-363.

DOI：10.1016/j.ctim.2012.02.008

• Acupoint stimulation
• Primary dysmenorrhea
• Pain
• Systematic review
• Meta-analysis

Background: Primary dysmenorrhea is a common gynecologic complain in women of reproductive age. Acupoint stimulation therapies might be an effective intervention for primary dysmenorrhea. %26lt;br%26gt;Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of acupoint stimulation for primary dysmenorrhea. %26lt;br%26gt;Data sources: All searches in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, and CEPS databases (inception to March 2011). %26lt;br%26gt;Study selection: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included were comparing acupoint stimulation with non-acupoint-related stimulation or medication. %26lt;br%26gt;Data extraction: Data were abstracted independently by two authors onto standardized forms, and disagreements were resolved by discussion. %26lt;br%26gt;Data synthesis: Thirty RCTs met the selection criteria, and 25 reported sufficient data for pooling. The main outcomes assessed were cure rate, total effective rate, pain intensity, menstrual pain, plasma PGF2/PGE2 ratio, and adverse events. According to the type of outcome, the strength of a relationship between two dichotomous variables was described by odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, and continuous variables were expressed as mean +/- standard deviation. Fixed-effects models were used to perform meta-analysis. %26lt;br%26gt;Results: Twenty-five RCTs with a total of over 3000 participants were included for the meta-analysis. Acupoint stimulation when compared with non-acupoint-related stimulation or medication had significant effects. Moderator analysis further confirmed that invasive and non-invasive acupoint stimulation was effective separately, with the latter being more effective. The most common adverse events were hemorrhage and hematoma. %26lt;br%26gt;Limitations: Papers written in language other than English or Chinese were not included. %26lt;br%26gt;Conclusions and implication: This finding indicates that acupoint stimulation, especially non-invasive acupoint stimulation, could have good short term effects on pain of primary dysmenorrhea. Inference in some studies was somewhat restricted due to low methodological rigor. We suggest well-designed, methodologically rigorous, large trial, evaluating both short and long-term effects on pain and other outcomes in comparison with the available standard treatments.

• 出版日期2012-10