The study analysed the role of acupuncture as a complementary treatment for Alzheimer's disease by perusing systematic reviews and meta-analyses using data from eight electronic databases. The researchers employed a variety of tools such as the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2, Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews tool, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation to determine the quality of methodology, risk of potential bias, and quality of the evidence.

A total of eleven systematic reviews and meta-analyses met the necessary criteria for inclusion in this study. The results, despite indicating that acupuncture may show promise as a complementary treatment for Alzheimer's disease, all rated critically low in quality when assessed with the tools employed. Some methodological weaknesses remained, particularly pertaining to the protocol and registration, search strategy, risk of bias, additional analyses, and funding. Only a small portion of the reviews exhibited a low risk of bias. There was no high-quality evidence found, but moderate-quality evidence was provided for seven outcomes. The risk of bias in the original trials seemed more prevalent than inconsistency, imprecision, and publication bias.