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Efficacy of acupuncture in the management of atopic dermatitis: a systematic review
Author(s) -
Tan H. Y.,
Le G. B.,
Zhang A. L.,
Xue C. C.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
clinical and experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1365-2230
pISSN - 0307-6938
DOI - 10.1111/ced.12732
Subject(s) - acupuncture , medicine , atopic dermatitis , placebo , randomized controlled trial , quality of life (healthcare) , physical therapy , disease , alternative medicine , intensive care medicine , dermatology , pathology , nursing
Summary Atopic dermatitis ( AD ) has a high negative impact on quality of life. Acupuncture has antipruritic actions and may assist in treatment of AD ; however, the current state of evidence for this remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture against placebo/sham acupuncture in the management of AD . Electronic searches were conducted on a number of databases, from their inception until November 2013. Studies comparing the effects of acupuncture with those of placebo/sham acupuncture on severity of disease or symptoms/signs of AD were included. We did not find any studies that were eligible to be included in this systematic review. Among the excluded studies, there were two studies that evaluated the antipruritic effects of acupuncture and one study that evaluated the effects of acupuncture on IgE‐mediated allergy. However, there were no randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of acupuncture on AD as a disease. This finding therefore provides an indication of the current state of evidence of acupuncture in the management of AD , and highlights the research gap that exists, in that there is a lack of gold‐standard studies (i.e. RCT s) to support valid conclusions. There is currently no evidence of the effects of acupuncture in the management of AD , and no evidence‐based recommendations or conclusions can be made from this review. Several studies indicated that acupuncture may have a role in reducing itch or regulating IgE‐mediated allergy, both of which are major characteristics of AD . However, there were no RCT s evaluating the effects of acupuncture on AD as a disease. There is therefore an urgent need for rigorously designed RCT s to assess the efficacy of acupuncture in the management of AD .