Verum versus sham manual acupuncture for migraine: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Yan Yang

Qinghui Que

Xiaode Ye

Guo hua Zheng

Acupuncture in Medicine

2016

34(2)

76-83

Systematic Review

Acupuncture

Systematic Review (430)

Meta-Analysis

AcuTrials

Headache Disorders

Migraine

Acu Versus Sham

Background Manual acupuncture (MA) is commonly used as a treatment for migraine in China. However, its specific clinical effects have been challenged on the basis that some of its effects may relate to psychological or 'placebo' mechanisms. Objective To identify the effectiveness of verum MA compared with sham acupuncture for the treatment of migraine. Methods Eight electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of verum versus sham MA on migraine. The quality of included trials was assessed using the 'risk of bias' tool provided by the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review of Intervention. RevMan 5.2 software was used for data analysis. Results Ten trials with 997 participants were included. Most trials had high methodological quality and were at low risk of bias. Meta-analysis showed superior effects of verum MA over sham acupuncture on the total effective rate, reflected by a reduction in the 'not effective' rate (relative risk (RR) 0.24, 95% CI 0.1 5 to 0.38; p<0.0001, four trials) and a reduced recurrence rate (RR 0.47, 95% CI 0.28 to 0.81; p=0.006, two trials), but no significant differences in headache intensity, frequency or duration, accompanying symptoms and use of medication. No severe adverse events related to acupuncture occurred during treatment with either verum or sham MA. Conclusions Current clinical evidence suggests that verum acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture in migraine, reflected by a higher total effective rate and decreased recurrence rate. Nevertheless, further large-scale RCTs with a rigorous design are required to confirm these findings in view of the relative paucity of eligible RCTs and small sample sizes of those included.

Accession Number: 114898840; Source Information: Apr2016, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p76; Subject Term: MIGRAINE -- Treatment; Subject Term: ACUPUNCTURE; Subject Term: DATABASES; Subject Term: INFORMATION storage & retrieval systems -- Medical care; Subject Term: INFORMATION storage & retrieval systems -- Medicine; Subject Term: MEDLINE; Subject Term: ONLINE information services; Subject Term: SYSTEMATIC reviews (Medical research); Subject Term: RANDOMIZED controlled trials; Subject Term: ; Number of Pages: 8p; ; Illustrations: 1 Diagram, 3 Charts; ; Document Type: Article;

10 RCTs

997