ReviewMedical acupuncture2013
Acupuncture's Cardiovascular Actions: A Mechanistic Perspective.
Review in Medical acupuncture, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture-based interventions for blood pressure control and cardiovascular risk-related outcomes in adults with hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of Acupuncture on Arterial Hypertension and Endothelial Dysfunction: The AHEaD Trial.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2026Trial
- Active Acupoints Differ from Inactive Acupoints in Modulating Key Plasmatic Metabolites of Hypertension: A Targeted Metabolomics Study.Scientific reports · 2018Trial
- Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture in acute decompensated heart failure: a study protocol for a randomized, patient- and assessor-blinded, sham controlled trial.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Low-frequency electroacupuncture attenuates insulin resistance in a rat model of diet-induced maternal obesity.Pregnancy (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Association between acupuncture exposure and mortality in people with disabilities diagnosed with ischemic heart disease: a nationwide retrospective cohort study in the Republic of Korea.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for coronary microvascular disease: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Article
- Electroacupuncture ameliorates chronic heart failure: the role of CRH neurons in the paraventricularnucleus of the hypothalamus.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neuromodulation of the Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System for Arrhythmia Treatment.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Acupuncture for Essential Hypertension and Endothelial Dysfunction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2025Article
- Association between acupuncture treatment exposure and mortality in patients with heart failure: a nationwide cohort study.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Review
- PC6 electroacupuncture reduces stress-induced autonomic and neuroendocrine responses in rats.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Sympathoinhibitory electroacupuncture (EA) interacts positively with anti-inflammatory EA alleviating blood pressure in hypertensive rats.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2023Article
- Adenosine AFrontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2023Article
- A Biophysical Model for Cardiovascular Effects of Acupuncture-Underlying Mechanisms Based on First Principles.Medical acupuncture · 2022Review
- Can Post-Exercise Hemodynamic Response Be Influenced by Different Recovery Methods in Paraplegic Sportsmen?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- STAT3 but Not STAT5 Contributes to the Protective Effect of Electroacupuncture Against Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Mice.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- Protection against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity through Modulating iNOS/ARG 2 Balance by Electroacupuncture at PC6.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Over the last several decades, there has been an explosion of articles on acupuncture, including studies that have begun to explore mechanisms underlying its analgesic and cardiovascular actions. Modulation of cardiovascular function is most effective during manual and low-frequency, low-intensity electroacupuncture (EA) at a select set of acupoints situated along meridians located over deep somatic nerves on the upper and lower extremities. Stimulation at these acupoints activates underlying sensory neural pathways that project to a number of regions in the central nervous system (CNS) that ultimately regulate autonomic outflow and hence cardiovascular function. A long-loop pathway involving the hypothalamus, midbrain, and medulla underlies EA modulation of reflex increases in blood pressure (BP). Actions of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the supraspinal CNS underlie processing of the somatic input and adjustment of autonomic outflow during EA. Acupuncture also decreases elevated blood pressure through actions in the thoracic spinal cord. Reflexes that lower BP likewise are modulated by EA through its actions on sympathetic and parasympathetic nuclei in the medulla. The autonomic influence of acupuncture is slow in onset but prolonged in duration, typically lasting beyond the period of stimulation. Clinical studies suggest that acupuncture can be used to treat cardiac diseases, such as myocardial ischemia and hypertension, associated with overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system.
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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.