Based on moderate certainty of evidence, we conclude that acupuncture is mildly more effective and much safer than medication for the prophylaxis of migraine.
We included in our meta-analysis 9 studies, with a total of 1,484 participants that compared acupuncture with pharmacological prophylaxis for the prevention of migraine attacks in adults with chronic or episodic migraine. We found moderate quality of evidence that acupuncture is mildly more effective than any pharmacological prophylaxis in reducing the days with migraine per month, pain intensity, drop out from treatment, though the magnitude of the differences was small. We also found moderate quality of evidence that acupuncture is more effective than pharmacological prophylaxis in increasing the response rate to treatments and quality of life, but the magnitude of the differences was small. Conversely, we found moderate quality of evidence of a strong reduction in favor of acupuncture in both the dropout rate due to any and in the dropout rate due to adverse event.
