The efficacy and safety of acupuncture-related therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Background:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has seriously affected the quality of life of patients with its refractory, recurrent, and disabled characteristics, and has become a major public health problem. Previous studies have confirmed that acupuncture and moxibustion have a reliable effect on RA, but there are many forms of acupuncture and moxibustion, and the efficacy of each form is different. This study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy of different acupuncture-related therapies in the treatment of RA by means of network meta-analysis.Methods:According to the retrieval strategy, we retrieved the randomized controlled studies on acupuncture-related therapy for RA from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, VIP, China Biomedicine, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library databases from the establishment of the database to July 2021. We assessed the quality of the studies using the Cochrane Risk Bias Assessment Tool and assessed the strength of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methodology. All data analyses were performed by Revman5.3, Gemtc 0.14.3, and Stata 14.0.Results:This study is to evaluate the efficacy of different acupuncture-related therapies in the treatment of RA by evaluating the total effective rate, pain scores, joint function scores, quality of life scores, laboratory indicators, adverse reactions, etc.Conclusion:This study will provide a reliable evidence-based basis for the selection of the best acupuncture form for the treatment of RA.Ethics and dissemination:Private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also does not involve endangering participant rights. Ethical approval will not be required. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated at relevant conferences.

Effects of Warm Needle Acupuncture plus Xitong Waixi Lotion in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The knee is a common site of osteoarthritis, and patients with osteoarthritis of the knee usually suffer from a long-term condition that may lead to narrowing of the joint space and fibrotic changes in adjacent tissues, resulting in degenerative changes in the knee cartilage. The quality of life of the joint and the patient is impaired [ 12 ]. Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee are commonly treated clinically with western medicine, but a cure has not been achieved, and long-term use of Western medicine has been associated with various adverse effects.…”

“…Blood and qi are concentrated in these acupoints, and acupuncture at these points can unblock the blood vessels around the patient's diseased area to repair the soft tissues of the patient's knee joint, thereby effectively relieving the knee pain [14]. Compared to traditional therapies, acupuncture is highly accepted clinically for its effectiveness in reducing patients' pain and improving knee function with no significant adverse effects [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Xitong Waixi lotion is commonly used in our hospital to treat patients with arthritis, with a marked effect of dispelling cold and dampness and unblocking the meridians.…”

Semi-automated socio-anthropologic analysis of themedical discourseon rheumatoid arthritis: potential impact in public health

“…As it may have appeared already VNS and electroacupuncture share a very clear ground: electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. It is therefore interesting to observe that the most recent (2018-2021) reviews on RA and AP consist of : a meta-meta-analysis (data are extracted from prior meta-analyses, [84]) conducted in South-America, reporting the overall lack of impact of such therapy on RA, and two meta-analyses conducted in Asia [85,86] describing, conversely, positive impact of the treatment. Only [85] was an accessible open source and to the best of our knowledge rigorously designed study.…”

“…It is therefore interesting to observe that the most recent (2018-2021) reviews on RA and AP consist of : a meta-meta-analysis (data are extracted from prior meta-analyses, [84]) conducted in South-America, reporting the overall lack of impact of such therapy on RA, and two meta-analyses conducted in Asia [85,86] describing, conversely, positive impact of the treatment. Only [85] was an accessible open source and to the best of our knowledge rigorously designed study. Still, the limited space for discussion given to the biological mechanism include two research articles published on national or specialized literature (Acupuncture Research [87,88]) disregarding the knowledge on the inflammatory reflex and on other associated biological findings [65,89].…”

Semi-automated socio-anthropologic analysis of the medical discourse on rheumatoid arthritis: Potential impact on public health

“…As may have already been seen, VNS and electroacupuncture share a very clear common ground: electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. It is therefore interesting to observe that the most recent (2018–2021) reviews on RA and AP consist of: a meta-meta-analysis (data is extracted from prior meta-analyses, [ 72 ]) conducted in South-America, reporting the overall lack of impact of such therapy on RA, and two meta-analyses conducted in Asia [ 73 , 74 ] describing, conversely, a positive impact from the treatment. Only the article by Shang et al [ 73 ] was an accessible open source and, to the best of our knowledge, a rigorously designed study.…”