To compare the efficacy of acupuncture with traditional Chinese medicine to conventional Western medicine, several databases, including Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, CQVIP, and CBM, were searched until August 2021. The criterion for inclusion were randomized control trials where the experimental group was treated with acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, and the control group with conventional Western medicine. Studies were excluded if they were repeated publications, lacked full text, incomplete in information, or incapable of data extraction. Animal experiments, reviews, and systematic reviews were also disregarded. Data analysis was conducted using STATA 15.1 software.

The analyzed results revealed that the total effective rate of the group treated with acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine was noticeably higher than those treated with conventional Western medicine. Additionally, this group showed considerably lower Urticaria Activity Scores and pruritus scores compared to those treated with Western medicine. However, there was no substantial difference shown in the wheal score between both groups. Significantly, the recurrence rate and the incidence rate of adverse events in the group treated with acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine were markedly lower than the other group. This highlights the greater effectiveness and safety of the combination of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine for chronic urticaria compared to Western medicine.