Acupuncture at Sifeng (EX-UE 10) for pediatric anorexia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Complementary therapies in medicine Vol. 78; p. 102988
• Main Authors: Chen, Yuecai, Lun, TingTing, Li, Li, Yu, Jin, Xiang, Meng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2023; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Anorexia; Bias; Blood; Body weight; Chinese medicine; Clinical trials; Criteria; Disease; Eating disorders; Food; Food intake; Herbal medicine; Illnesses; Leptin; Medical diagnosis; Meta-analysis; Pediatrics; Quality assessment; Randomized controlled trial; Reduction; Risk analysis; Sensitivity analysis; Sifeng (EX-UE 10); Spleen; Systematic review; Trace elements; Traditional Chinese medicine; Zinc; China; RR; RCT; Anorexia; OR; DEC; CI; PPZF; Systematic review; Randomized controlled trial; Meta-analysis; MD; GRADE; Acupuncture; GCRNCM; Sifeng (EX-UE 10); TCM
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2023.102988
• ISSN: 0965-2299

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture at Sifeng for pediatric anorexia. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture at Sifeng for pediatric anorexia from their beginning to October 2022 were looked up in the seven databases. The Cochrane risk of bias evaluation tool was applied to the risk of bias analysis of the included studies. A meta-analysis of the total efficiency, score of food intake reduction, time to normalize food intake, body weight, leptin levels, and blood zinc levels was performed using Review Manager 5.3 software. The GRADE criteria were applied to assess the evidence's quality. A total of 24 RCTs were included, involving 2202 children. The allocation of concealment, blinding, and selective reporting has a high or unclear risk of bias. All experiments compared acupuncture at Sifeng with traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine. The results showed that, compared with medicine, acupuncture at Sifeng could significantly improve the total efficiency (OR=6.44, 95%CI [4.78,8.66]), lower the score of food intake reduction (MD=−0.69, 95%CI [−1.00, −0.39]), decrease leptin levels (MD=−5.19, 95%CI [−8.09, −2.29]) and time to normal food intake (MD=−2.22, 95%CI [−2.42, −2.01]), increase blood zinc (MD=0.79, 95%CI [0.21, 1.37]) and body weight (MD=1.28, 95%CI [0.85, 1.72]). Seven studies found that the treatment was safe both during and after. Based on the GRADE criteria, the quality of the evidence for the majority of indicators was extremely poor. The low certainty of evidence suggested that acupuncture at Sifeng was effective and safe in the therapy of pediatric anorexia. Future high-quality clinical studies are needed to provide more reliable evidence of the effectiveness and safety of the therapy. •A new non-pharmacological treatment for pediatric anorexia.•First multifaceted evaluation of the effectiveness of acupuncture at Sifeng (EX-UE 10) in treating pediatric anorexia.•Reviewed the diagnostic and efficacy criteria of pediatric anorexia and the classification of Chinese medical evidence.