ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2015
Efficacy of Acupuncture in Itch: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinical Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of acupuncture treatment in patients with mild to moderate atopic dermatitis: a randomized, participant- and assessor-blind sham-controlled trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2021Trial
- Effects and safety of acupuncture versus non-penetrating sham acupuncture for senile pruritus: Rationale and design for a randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
- Breaking the cycle: a comprehensive exploration of topical steroid addiction and withdrawal.Frontiers in allergy · 2025Review
- Management of Skin Toxicities in Cancer Treatment: An Australian/New Zealand Perspective.Cancers · 2024Review
- Acupuncture in hematologic malignancies and hematopoietic cell transplantation.Blood reviews · 2022Review
- Acupuncture attenuates comorbid anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors of atopic dermatitis through modulating neuroadaptation in the brain reward circuit in mice.Biological research · 2022Article
- Acupuncture for gastrointestinal urticaria: A protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- The Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Neurodermatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Review
- Acupuncture for the Treatment of Itch: Literature Review and Future Perspectives.Medical acupuncture · 2021Article
- Acupuncture for patients with chronic pruritus: protocol of a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Vulvar pruritus-Causes, Diagnosis and Therapeutic Approach.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2020Review
- Antipruritic effects of electroacupuncture on morphine-induced pruritus model mice through the TLR2/4-MyD88-NF-κB pathway.Neuroreport · 2019Article
- Acupuncture Treatment for Symptom Management in Atopic Dermatitis: A Study Protocol for a Randomized, Participant- and Assessor-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- Preliminary Comparison of the Efficacy and Safety of Needle-Embedding Therapy with Acupuncture for Atopic Dermatitis Patients.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2019Article
- Acupuncture for Histamine-Induced Itch: Association With Increased Parasympathetic Tone and Connectivity of Putamen-Midcingulate Cortex.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Article
- Acupuncture and Cutaneous Medicine: Is It Effective?Medical acupuncture · 2017Article
- Antipruritic Effect of Acupuncture in Patients with Atopic Dermatitis: Feasibility Study Protocol for a Randomised, Sham-Controlled Trial.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background. Itch (pruritus) is a sensitive state that provokes the desire to scratch. It is not only a common symptom of skin diseases but it also occurs in some systemic diseases. Clinical studies on the efficacy of the acupuncture therapy in alleviating itch are increasing, while systematic reviews assessing the efficacy of acupuncture therapy are still lacking. Objective. This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy for itch. Materials and Methods. A comprehensive literature search of eight databases was performed up to June 2014, and randomized controlled trials which compared acupuncture therapy and placebo acupuncture or no treatment group were identified. Accordingly, a meta-analysis was conducted. Results. This review included three articles of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from a total of 2530 articles. The results of Meta-analysis showed that acupuncture therapy was effective to alleviate itch compared with placebo acupuncture and no treatment group. Conclusion. Based on the findings of this systematic review, we cautiously suggest that acupuncture therapy could improve the clinical efficacy of itch. However, this conclusion needs more studies on various ethnic samples to confirm our final conclusion.
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.