SynthesisBulletin of the World Health Organization2010
Acupuncture-related adverse events: a systematic review of the Chinese literature.
Synthesis in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06099223 (Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess Preoperative Acupuncture for Patients Undergoing Total Knee or Hip Arthroplasty), which is not on this map. Cited by 68 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess Preoperative Acupuncture for Patients Undergoing Total Knee or Hip Arthroplasty
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Acupuncture-related adverse events: systematic review and meta-analyses of prospective clinical studies.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Safety of Acupuncture: Overview of Systematic Reviews.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Effectiveness of acupuncture and related therapies for palliative care of cancer: overview of systematic reviews.Scientific reports · 2015Pooled it
- Effectiveness of acupuncture for angina pectoris: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Acupuncture for acute postoperative pain after back surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2015Pooled it
- Acupuncture for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- Trial
- Article
- Perforation of small intestine as a rare adverse event of acupuncture: a case report.International journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- From Qi Flow to Air Leak: Bilateral Apical Pneumothoraces After Acupuncture.Journal of Brown hospital medicine · 2026Article
- Therapeutic credibility in community-based acupuncture care: an ethnographic study in southwest China.Frontiers in sociology · 2026Article
- Acupuncture-associated gastric mucosal repair and the EGF-EGFR-related signaling network: evidence, limitations, and prospects.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Electroacupuncture-inspired neuroimmune modulation in sepsis: evidence appraisal and ICU trial-design priorities.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Artificial intelligence guided acupuncture decision making and treatment: a review of research.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Advancing Safety in Acupuncture: Strategies, Best Practices, and Training for a Risk-Free Practice.Medical acupuncture · 2025Article
- Analysis of Adverse Events in Acupuncture and Moxibustion Treatments in Japan and the Current Situation of Hiroshima University Hospital Kampo Clinical Center.Medical acupuncture · 2025Article
- Incomplete reporting and spin in acupuncture randomised controlled trials: a cross-sectional meta-epidemiological study.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2025Article
- Dystonia: pathophysiology and the role of acupuncture in treatment.Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2025Review
- Ameliorating standard operating procedures could reduce the risk of needle retention after acupuncture.Medicine · 2025Observational
- Severe periocular ecchymosis following acupuncture therapy for dry eye: a report of two cases.Journal of surgical case reports · 2025Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveto systematically review the Chinese-language literature on acupuncture-related adverse events.
methodswe searched three Chinese databases (the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, 1980-2009; the Chinese Journal Full-Text Database, 1980-2009; and the Weipu Journal Database, 1989-2009) to identify Chinese-language articles about the safety of traditional needle acupuncture. Case reports, case series, surveys and other observational studies were included if they reported factual data, but review articles, translations and clinical trials were excluded.
findingsthe inclusion criteria were met by 115 articles (98 case reports and 17 case series) that in total reported on 479 cases of adverse events after acupuncture. Fourteen patients died. Acupuncture-related adverse events were classified into three categories: traumatic, infectious and "other". The most frequent adverse events were pneumothorax, fainting, subarachnoid haemorrhage and infection, while the most serious ones were cardiovascular injuries, subarachnoid haemorrhage, pneumothorax and recurrent cerebral haemorrhage.
conclusionmany acupuncture-related adverse events, most of them owing to improper technique, have been described in the published Chinese literature. Efforts should be made to find effective ways of monitoring and minimizing the risks related to acupuncture.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.