ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2015
Systematic Review of Adverse Effects: A Further Step towards Modernization of Acupuncture in China.
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 44 papers, 5 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of laser acupuncture for patients with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Lasers in medical science · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of various acupuncture modalities on alleviating symptoms in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in treatment of pregnancy-related symptoms: a systematic review and Meta-analysis.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2024Pooled it
- Safety of Acupuncture: Overview of Systematic Reviews.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Weight Loss: A Narrative Review.Journal of evidence-based integrative medicinePooled it
- Effects of Electroacupuncture with Different Waveforms on Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Contrast media & molecular imaging · 2022Trial
- Understanding Placebo and Nocebo Responses Based on a Randomized Sham-Controlled Study on Acupuncture in Integrative Cancer Care.Integrative cancer therapiesTrial
- Electrodiagnostic Assessment of Peri-Procedural Iatrogenic Peripheral Nerve Injuries and Rehabilitation.Muscle & nerve · 2025Review
- Bilateral pneumothorax following acupuncture.Oxford medical case reports · 2025Article
- Laparoscopic removal of a broken acupuncture needle in pancreatic head: a case report.Journal of surgical case reports · 2024Article
- Navigating the layers of concern for safe dry needling of the rectus abdominis: a cadaveric study.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2024Article
- Intrapulmonary migration of a fractured acupuncture needle: a case report.Journal of cardiothoracic surgery · 2024Article
- The State of 21st Century Acupuncture in the United States.Journal of pain research · 2024Article
- Can acupuncture increase microcirculation in peripheral artery disease and diabetic foot syndrome? - a pilot study.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Utility of Cupping Therapy in Substance Use Disorder: A Novel Approach or a Bizarre Treatment?Cureus · 2023Article
- Severe Adverse Events of Periocular Acupuncture: A Review of Cases.Korean journal of ophthalmology : KJO · 2023Review
- Use of Integrative, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine in Children with Epilepsy: A Global Scoping Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- A Pericatheter Abscess Following Acupuncture in a Patient With VP Shunt.Korean journal of neurotrauma · 2022Article
- Successful transcatheter arterial embolization for a massive hemothorax caused by acupuncture.Radiology case reports · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As a further step towards the modernization of acupuncture, the objective of this review was to figure out the frequency and severity of adverse complications and events in acupuncture treatment reported from 1980 to 2013 in China. All first-hand case reports of acupuncture-related complications and adverse events that could be identified in the scientific literature were reviewed and classified according to the type of complication and adverse event, circumstance of the event, and long-term patient outcome. The selected case reports were published between 1980 and 2013 in 3 databases. Relevant papers were collected and analyzed by 2 reviewers. Over the 33 years, 182 incidents were identified in 133 relevant papers. Internal organ, tissue, or nerve injury is the main complications of acupuncture especially for pneumothorax and central nervous system injury. Adverse effects also included syncope, infections, hemorrhage, allergy, burn, aphonia, hysteria, cough, thirst, fever, somnolence, and broken needles. Qualifying training of acupuncturists should be systemized and the clinical acupuncture operations should be standardized in order to effectively prevent the occurrence of acupuncture accidents, enhance the influence of acupuncture, and further popularize acupuncture to the rest of the world.
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.