A systematic evaluation on the therapeutic effect of acupuncture for the treatment of allergic rhinitis

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture therapy for the treatment of allergic rhinitis（AR）based on a systematic literature review. METHODS: Reports of randomized controlled trials（RCTs） about acupuncture treatment for AR were collect from the following databases, such as Pub Med, CNKI and so on, by means of computer retrieval. Trial screening, data collection and quality assessment of RCTs were conducted according to the established inclusive and exclusive criteria. Then, data from the included trials was analyzed by Rev Man 5.0 Software for further assessment. RESULTS: A total of 11 clinical studies, including1805 patients, met the inclusive criteria of the review for Meta-analysis. Results of Meta-analysis showed that the efficacy of acupuncture treatment was superior to that of sham treatment in reducing the integral of nasal symptoms, and also superior to that of chemical drugs in the effective rate, score-reducing of nasal symptoms, but was not better than chemical drugs in reducing serum level of IgE. Qualitative analysis showed that acupuncture therapy combined with conventional therapy can effectively improve the quality of life among patients with allergic rhinitis. In addition, it was shown that acupuncture therapy was safe for the treatment of allergic rhinitis as well, with no serious adverse effects occurred. CONCLUSION: It is shown based on current evidences that acupuncture can improve the clinical efficacy in the treatment of AR, especially in improving nasal symptoms and reducing adverse effects of routine therapies. However, it is needed to carry out more comprehensively designed randomized controlled clinical trials with larger sample and high quality in methodology to provide more reliable evidences for confirming the efficacy and safety further in this field.