Acupuncture and Related Therapies for Obesity: A Network Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Main characteristics of included randomized controlled trials.

Study ID and Country	Sample size R/A	Age: mean (SD) or range; R/A	Intervention	Control	Adverse events reported; R/A	Type of outcomes
Allison et al. [17] 1995, USA	35/34	19 - 70	AAS	Placebo	Redness, pain, bleeding	BW,
Hsu et al. [18] 2005, Taiwan	24/22	41.5(11.2)/41.0 (10.0)	EA	LM	Ecchymosis, abdominal discomfort/None	BW, BMI
Richards et al. [19] 1998, Australia	28/32	44.1 (11.7)/43.0 (13.6)	AAS	Placebo	intercurrent illness and discontinued/None	BW
He et al. [20] 2008, China	40/40	18 - 50	Combined therapies#	Pharmacotherapy	NR	BW, BMI
Li et al. [21] 2006, China	26/30	16.00(1.38)/16.00(1.95)	EA	LM	NR	BMI
	29/30	15.00(2. 04)/16.00(1.95)	AAS
Tong et al. [22] 2011, China	76/42	35.08(9.31)/34.60(8. 55)	Acupuncture	Placebo	Adverse events VAS	BMI
Hsu et al. [23] 2009, Taiwan	23/22	40.0 (10.5)/39.4 (13.6)	AAS	Placebo	Minor-inflammation, mild tenderness (7)/mild tenderness	BW, BMI
Hsieh et al. [24] 2010, Taiwan	26/26	18 - 20	AAS	Placebo	NR	BMI
Hsieh et al. [25] 2011, Taiwan	27/28	18 - 20	AAS	Placebo	NR	BW
Abdi et al. [26] 2012, Iran	86/83	37.29(1.0)/38.73 (1.1)	AAS	Placebo	None	BW, BMI
Darbandi et al. [27] 2012, Iran	43/43	37.57(9.26)/37.65(9.71)	AR+ LM	Placebo	None	BW, BMI,
He et al. [28] 2012, China	30/30	18-54	AR+ LM	LM	NR	BW, BMI
Lien et al. [29] 2012, Taiwan	24/23	39.2(11.6)/40.7 (9.7)	AAS	Placebo	Dizziness /None	BW, BMI
Darbandi et al. [30] 2014, Iran	20/20	38.0(0.9)/38.0(1.3)	EA	Placebo(EA)	None	BW, BMI
	20/20	39.0(1.8)/37.9(1.5)	AAS	Placebo(AAS)
Yeh et al. [31] 2015, Taiwan	36/34	29.9 (7.7)/32.8 (9.5)	EA	Placebo	NR	BMI
Chen et al. [32] 2007, China	40/40	43.1(13.6)/44.6(10.3)	ACE	Acupuncture	NR	BW, BMI
Huang et al. [33] 2011, China	30/30	NR	ACE	EA	NR	BW, BMI
Tang et al. [34] 2009, China	33/32	21-54/22-55	Combined therapies	EA	NR	BW, BMI
Shi et al, [35] 2006, China	40/42	17-49/18-51	Combined therapies	EA	NR	BW, BMI
Hsu et al. [36] 2005, Taiwan	22/20	40.0 (11.5)/41.3 (9.9)	EA	LM	mild Ecchymosis(3), abdominal discomfort/None	BW, BMI
Güçel et al. [37] 2012, Turkey	20/20	34.6±6.3/36.8±7.8	Acupuncture	Placebo	NR	BW, BMI
Deng et al. [38] 2014, China	30/30	32(7)/33(7)	Combined therapies	Acupuncture	NR	BW
	30/30	32(7)/33(8)		ACE
Hassan et al. [39] 2014, Egypt	21/30	45.00 (9.32)/43.47 (9.59)	AR+ LM	LM	NR	BW, BMI
He et al. [40] 2014, China	28/28	NR	Combined therapies	Acupuncture	NR	BW, BMI
Wang et al. [41] 2013, China	45/45	31(10)/32(12)	EA	Acupuncture	NR	BMI
Sujung et al. [42] 2014, South Korea	22/15	34.7(11.9)/42.7(10.2)	AAS	Placebo	NR	BW, BMI
Bu et al. [43] 2007, China	32/23	32.1(1.1)/33.4(1.3)	Combined therapies	Acupuncture	NR	BW, BMI
Shi et al. [44] 2005, China	36/32	19~58/18~56	WA	EA	NR	BW
Yang et al. [45] 2010, China	31/30	18~42/18~48	AR+ LM	LM	NR	BW
Cabioglu et al. [46] 2005, Turkey	22/12	39.8(5.3)/43.3(4.3)	EA	Placebo	NR	BW
	22/21	39.8(5.3)/42.7(3.9)		LM
Cabioglu et al. [47] 2006, Turkey	20/15	42.1(4.4)/41.8(4.6)	EA	Placebo	NR	BW
	20/15	42.1(4.4)/42.9 (4.3)		LM
Cabioglu et al. [48] 2008, Turkey	20/15	40.55 (5.30)/41.47 (4.61)	EA	Placebo	NR	BW
	20/23	40.55 (5.30)/42.91(4.02)		LM
Darbandi et al. [49] 2013, Iran	42/44	36.50 (9.26)/36.48 (8.69)	AR+ LM	Placebo	NR	BW, BMI
Fogarty et al. [50] 2015, Australia	19/16	>18	AR+ LM	Placebo	NR	BMI

BW: body weight; BMI: body mass index; LM: lifestyle modification; AAS: auricular acupoint stimulation; EA: electroacupuncture; ACE: acupoint catgut embedding; WA: warming acupuncture; AR: acupuncture and related therapies; #combination of acupuncture and related therapies.