ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2018
Clinical Efficacy of Acupuncture on Rheumatoid Arthritis and Associated Mechanisms: A Systemic Review.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of acupuncture and related techniques on patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2022Pooled it
- Comparison of Efficacy of Acupuncture-Related Therapy in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture for juvenile idiopathic arthritis: clinical efficacy and its role in modulating pyroptosis and autophagy pathways.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Trial
- Effects of laser acupuncture tele-therapy for rheumatoid arthritis elderly patients.Lasers in medical science · 2022Trial
- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) collaborative care involving acupuncture for axial spondyloarthritis: 6-week exploratory results of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Article
- A robot arm-assisted acupuncture system with motion and force monitoring: establishment and validation.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Hyaluronic acid dissolving microneedle patch-assisted acupoint transdermal delivery of triptolide for effective rheumatoid arthritis treatment.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effect of acupuncture on ischaemic stroke in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a nationwide propensity score-matched study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- An Experimental Animal Study: Electroacupuncture Facilitates Antiviral Immunity Against Hepatitis B Virus Through the IFN-γ/JAK/STAT Axis.Journal of inflammation research · 2024Article
- Amelioration of Rheumatoid Arthritis byMedicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Assessment of complementary and alternative medicine methods in the management of ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia syndrome.Rheumatology international · 2023Review
- Effectiveness of Yoga and Acupuncture in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2023Article
- Electroacupuncture Alleviates Pain Responses and Inflammation in Collagen-Induced Arthritis Rats via Suppressing the TLR2/4-MyD88-NF-Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2023Article
- Factors associated with Chinese herbal medicine use among middle-aged and older women with arthritis: evidence from China.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- The use of LED therapy to treat synovial joints disorders: scoping review.Lasers in medical science · 2022Article
- The Effect of Acupuncture on Hand and Wrist Pain Intensity, Functional Status, and Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review.Medical acupuncture · 2022Review
- Clinical Efficacy of Acupuncture for the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Effect of Acupuncture on Diabetic Neuropathy: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Effects of acupuncture on clinical outcome and helper T cell distribution and abundance in patients with convalescent ischemic stroke.American journal of translational research · 2021Article
- Does Use of Acupuncture Reduce the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis? Evidence From a Universal Coverage Health Care System.Frontiers in medicine · 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
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe objective of this review is to investigate the detailed existing scientific information about the clinical efficacy of acupuncture on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) conditions and to reveal the proposed mechanisms.
methodsWe searched the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine), NCCAM (The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases to identify relevant monographs and related references from 1974 to 2018. Chinese journals and theses/dissertations were hand searched.
results43 studies were recruited. Each research was analyzed for study design, subject characteristics, intervention, selected acupoints, assessment parameters, proposed mechanisms, and results/conclusions.
conclusionsIn our review, we concluded that acupuncture alone or combined with other treatment modalities is beneficial to the clinical conditions of RA without adverse effects reported and can improve function and quality of life and is worth trying. Several important possible mechanisms were summarized including anti-inflammatory effect, antioxidative effect, and regulation of immune system function. However, there is still inconsistency regarding the clinical efficacy and lack of well-designed human/animal double-blinded RCTs. Future discussion for further agreement on taking traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory into consideration as much as possible is a top priority.
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.