Electroacupuncture has been found effective and safe in treating benign prostatic hyperplasia.
In this study, seven distinct databases were scrutinized from their inception through March 31, 2023, to accumulate pertinent research reports about electroacupuncture's impact on benign prostatic hyperplasia. The enforced criteria for inclusion and exclusion of literature were its score of 4 and above on the modified Jadad scale, a tool used for assessing research quality. Furthermore, the Cochrane risk of bias tool was engaged to gauge the risk of bias within the accumulated works, and the data were analyzed utilizing fixed or random effects model dependent on I² values. Sensitivity analysis and publication bias assessment were also conducted.
Evaluative discussion of the incorporated randomized controlled trial studies, with 1045 patients in total, indicated that the group treated with electroacupuncture exhibited superior improvements over the control group in terms of clinical efficacy rate, International Prostate Symptom Score, maximum urinary flow rate, and post-void residual volume. However, there was no remarkable difference regarding prostate volume and adverse events between the electroacupuncture and control group, thus attributing to the overall acceptable safety of electroacupuncture in treating benign prostatic hyperplasia.
