Efficacy of Acupuncture for Herpes Zoster: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Cui Y, Wang F, Li H, Zhang X, Zhao X, Wang D · Complementary Medicine Research · 2021 October

Objective

To assess the efficacy of acupuncture in patients with herpes zoster (HZ).

Conclusions

Acupuncture is associated with reduced pain intensity, promoted skin lesion healing, and decreased PHN incidence in patients with herpes zoster (HZ). Results showed that acupuncture may be an effective therapy for patients with HZ. Nevertheless, this finding should be validated by conducting high-quality trials with larger sample size.

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Insights

Acupuncture treatment offers significant benefits for herpes zoster patients, including reduced pain intensity and faster healing times.

The methodologies of this study entailed screening five databases for randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that were published up to August 2019. These studies had to examine the effectiveness of acupuncture as a standalone treatment for herpes zoster. Key outcomes assessed included pain intensity, crust formation time, crust shedding time, and the occurrence of post-herpetic neuralgia. In the study's results, there was considerable impact noted from acupuncture treatment on the herpes zoster patients. When compared to antiviral therapy, it was found that acupuncture led to less pain, quicker formation and shedding of crusts, and a lower incidence of post-herpetic neuralgia. A meta-regression analysis identified that the sample size and treatment duration were significant sources of variation in the results. Despite some variation in the decrustation time data, a sensitivity analysis indicated that the general outcomes were stable and reliable.