Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the Treatment of Adult Diarrhea Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Network Meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective. This study was aimed at comparing the clinical efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion on irritable bowel syndrome complicated with diarrhea (IBS-D) in adults and providing guidance for clinical treatment. Methods. PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Embase, CBM, CNKI, and VIP and Wanfang databases were searched to obtain clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of IBS-D published from establishment of the database to August 5, 2021. Relevant data were extracted to assess the risk of bias in the included studies, and statistical software Stata 16.0 was used for meta-analysis. Results. Twenty-one studies were eventually included in the network meta-analysis (NMA), including 1626 patients with IBS-D and 8 therapeutic measures. NMA showed that acupuncture [ OR = 0.35 , 95 % CI 0.25 , 0.49 , P < 0.05 ], warming needle moxibustion [ OR = 6.34 , 95 % CI 2.83 , 14.21 , P < 0.05 ], acupuncture+sandwiched moxibustion [ OR = 12.83 , 95 % CI 4.49 , 36.64 , P < 0.05 ], acupuncture+heat-sensitive moxibustion [ OR = 9.86 , 95 % CI 1.77 , 55.00 , P < 0.05 ] were more effective than pinaverium bromide in the treatment of IBS-D. Cumulative ranking probability (SUCRA) showed that the comprehensive efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion (86.8%) and quality of life (QOL) (70.4%) was the best, while the comprehensive efficacy of pinaverium bromide (2.1%) and QOL (16.3%) was the worst. GV20, GV29, ST 25, ST37, ST36, SP6, LR3, and CV12 were used frequently. Conclusion. Acupuncture+sandwiched moxibustion has the best effect on improving the efficacy and QOL of IBS-D patients. Limited by the number and quality of studies, we still need a large sample, multicenter, and high-quality clinical trials to confirm our findings.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Treating the Gut and Brain/Mind at the Same Time

“…In sham control trials, acupuncture did not yield strong, conclusive evidence, but moxibustion produced effects with substantial heterogeneity. More rigorous sham control trials, the authors warn, are needed to evaluate if acupuncture or moxibustion is beneficial in treating IBS [ 81 , 82 ].…”

“…Future research must have a stricter design and uniform reports. More research and meta-analyses are needed to assess how effective acupuncture is in treating IBS [ 82 ].…”

Retracted: Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the Treatment of Adult Diarrhea Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Network Meta‐analysis

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [ 1 ]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process: Discrepancies in scope Discrepancies in the description of the research reported Discrepancies between the availability of data and the research described Inappropriate citations Incoherent, meaningless and/or irrelevant content included in the article Peer-review manipulation …”

“…This article has been retracted by Hindawi following an investigation undertaken by the publisher [1]. This investigation has uncovered evidence of one or more of the following indicators of systematic manipulation of the publication process:…”