Acupuncture Treatment for Cough-Variant Asthma: A Meta-Analysis

Xiong J, Qi WC, Yang H, Zou ST, Kong J, Wang CL, Zhou YF, Liang FR · Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine · 2021 April 02

DOI 10.1155/2021/6694936

Objective

To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating cough-variant asthma and to provide reference values for clinical decision-making.

Conclusions

This systematic review highlighted the efficacy of acupuncture treatment for cough-variant asthma in relieving symptoms and reducing the recurrence rate. Patients reported to have an overall improved lung function-related indicators and immune inflammation indicators.Other symptoms of cough, phlegm, and diaphragmatic congestion are also alleviated.

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Insights

The evidence supports that acupuncture can be considered in the treatment of cough-variant asthma as an adjuvant therapy.

In this study, a total of 929 patients (464 cases in the treatment group and 465 cases in the control group) were included in 11 RCT studies of acupuncture treatment for cough-variant asthma (CVA). Meta-analysis results based on published evidence showed that total effective rate, recurrence rate, and symptom integral (cough, sputum, XiongGe full tightness), pulmonary function (FVC, FEV1, and PEF), and biochemical indicators (CRP, TNF alpha, and IgE) were superior with acupuncture treatment of CVA compared to control groups. The results showed that giving priority to simple acupuncture or auxiliary treatment of CVA clinical curative effect is better. Advantages include reducing the recurrence rate, improving symptoms, and regulating immune inflammation index. The quality of the studies was low, but there was research into the negative reports and risk of bias. Safety analysis: 3 of the 11 studies mentioned adverse reactions of acupuncture, mainly manifesting as minor reactions such as gastrointestinal reactions and local skin redness. Compared with the control group, there were fewer adverse reactions, and the safety was higher.