Electroacupuncture is Beneficial for Primary Dysmenorrhea: The Evidence from Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Si-yi Yu, Zheng-tao Lv, Qing Zhang, Sha Yang, Xi Wu, You-ping Hu, Fang Zeng, Fan-rong Liang, Jie Yang · Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2017 December 5
DOI 10.1155/2017/1791258
Objective
Here, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis specifically to evaluate the clinical efficacy from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the use of EA in patients with PD.
Conclusions
The findings of our study suggested that EA can provide considerable immediate analgesia effect for PD. Additional studies with rigorous design and larger sample sizes are needed.
Critical Appraisal
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Insights
Electroacupuncture can provide considerable immediate analgesia effect for primary dysmenorrhea.
Our findings indicated that EA at SP6 can provide considerable immediate analgesic effect for primary dysmenorrhea and its immediate effect of pain relieving seems to be superior to control interventions. Moreover, there was greater prevalence of curative rate in the EA treatment group compared with the pharmacological treatments after a course of treatment. These results appear to be encouraging, but it should be considered at the same time that they are based on relatively low number of trials and relatively poor methodological quality of the primary studies. Hence, future research should be designed strictly and comprehensively to provide unbiased evidence about the efficacy of EA in the treatment of PD.
