ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2018
Acupuncture for Diarrhoea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Network Meta-Analysis.
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. It is linked to trial NCT04566679 (Butyrate in Children With IBS), which is not on this map. Cited by 18 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.
Butyrate in Children With IBS: Double Blind Placebo Controlled Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Visualization analysis of research hotspots and trends in traditional Chinese medicine external therapies for irritable bowel syndrome.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Symptom effects and central mechanism of acupuncture in patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders: a systematic review based on fMRI studies.BMC gastroenterology · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of acupuncture inclusion in the enhanced recovery after surgery protocol on tumor patient gastrointestinal function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Pooled it
- Effects and Mechanisms of Acupuncture on Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture and related therapies for the anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D): A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Self-administered active versus sham acupressure for diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome: a nurse-led randomized clinical trial.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Electro-acupuncture for health-related quality of life and symptoms in patients with gastric cancer undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy (EAGER): a protocol for a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2023Article
- Research Trends of Acupuncture Therapy for Chronic Pain-Related Depression or Anxiety from 2003 to 2023: A Bibliometric Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- Long-term effect of moxibustion on irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea: a randomized clinical trial.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Standardizing and optimizing acupuncture treatment for irritable bowel syndrome: A Delphi expert consensus study.Integrative medicine research · 2021Article
- Effects of 10.6-μm laser moxibustion and electroacupuncture at ST36 in a 5-Fu-induced diarrhea rat model.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
- Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for irritable bowel syndrome 2020.Journal of gastroenterology · 2021Article
- The Quality of Methodological and Reporting in Network Meta-Analysis of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Review
- Efficacy and safety of non-pharmacological interventions for irritable bowel syndrome in adults.World journal of gastroenterology · 2020Article
- Acupuncture for the Treatment of Depression and Physical Symptoms in Chronic Bipolar Disorder: A Case Report.Clinical medicine insights. Case reports · 2020Article
- Effectiveness of vitamin D for irritable bowel syndrome: A protocol for a systematic review of randomized controlled trial.Medicine · 2019Article
- Management of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea: a review of nonpharmacological and pharmacological interventions.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2019Review
- Augmented Mechanical Forces of the Surface-Modified Nanoporous Acupuncture Needles Elicit Enhanced Analgesic Effects.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2019Article
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 at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of acupuncture, sham acupuncture, and drugs in the treatment of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.
methodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of acupuncture and drugs were comprehensively retrieved from electronic databases (such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and CBM) up to December 2017. Additional references were obtained from review articles. With document quality evaluations and data extraction, Network Meta-Analysis was performed using a random-effects model under a frequentist framework.
resultsA total of 29 studies (n = 9369) were included; 19 were high-quality studies, and 10 were low-quality studies. NMA showed the following: (1) the ranking of treatments in terms of efficacy in diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome is acupuncture, sham acupuncture, pinaverium bromide, alosetron = eluxadoline, ramosetron, and rifaximin; (2) the ranking of treatments in terms of severity of side effects in diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome is rifaximin, alosetron, ramosetron = pinaverium bromide, sham acupuncture, and acupuncture; and (3) the treatment of diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome includes common acupoints such as ST25, ST36, ST37, SP6, GV20, and EX-HN3.
conclusionAcupuncture may improve diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome better than drugs and has the fewest side effects. Sham acupuncture may have curative effect except for placebo effect. In the future, it is necessary to perform highly qualified research to prove this result. Pinaverium bromide also has good curative effects with fewer side effects than other drugs.
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.