The Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Management of Functional Constipation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 1

The search strategy in PubMed.

Number	Search items
1	Functional constipation
2	Chronic functional constipation
3	Chronic constipation
4	Idiopathic constipation
5	Slow transit constipation
6	Functional gastrointestinal disorder
7	Functional defecatory disorder
8	Chronic severe functional constipation
9	Constipation
10	FC
11	CC
12	CSFC
13	Or 1–12
14	Acupuncture
15	Acupuncture therapy
16	Acupuncture needle
17	Manual acupuncture
18	Electroacupuncture
19	Needling
20	MA
21	EA
22	Or 14–21
23	Randomized controlled trial
24	Controlled clinical trial
25	Randomized
26	Randomly
27	Trial
28	Or 23–27
29	Exp animals/not humans
30	28 not 29
31	13 and 22 and 30