Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31370200›Full record

ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2019

Acupuncture for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Mike Armour, Caroline A Smith, Li-Qiong Wang, Dhevaksha Naidoo, Guo-Yan Yang, Hugh MacPherson, Myeong Soo Lee, Phillipa Hay

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
80citing papers in PubMed, 12 pooled it
19.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

80 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Pooled it
  12. Pooled it
  13. The efficacy and cerebral mechanism of intradermal acupuncture for major depressive disorder: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Trial
  14. Trial
  15. Trial
  16. Trial
  17. Trial
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.

Mike ArmourNICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia. m.armour@westernsydney.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0001-7539-9851
Caroline A SmithNICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
Li-Qiong WangSchool of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
Dhevaksha NaidooNICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
Guo-Yan YangNICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
Hugh MacPhersonDepartment of Health Sciences, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
Myeong Soo LeeClinical Medicine Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Korea.ORCID 0000-0001-6651-7641
Phillipa HayTranslational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-0296-6856
Translational Research Institute · AUWestern Sydney University · AUBeijing University of Chinese Medicine · CNCamden and Campbelltown Hospitals · AUKorea Institute of Oriental Medicine · KRUniversity of York · GB

Funding

Korea Institiute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM) KSN1522120
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDepression is commonly treated with anti-depressant medication and/or psychological interventions. Patients with depression are common users of complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, either as a replacement for, or adjunct to, their conventional treatments. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of acupuncture in major depressive disorder.

methodsA search of English (Medline, PsychINFO, Google Scholar, and CINAL), Chinese (China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI) and Wanfang Database), and Korean databases was undertaken from 1980 to November 2018 for clinical trials using manual, electro, or laser acupuncture.

resultsTwenty-nine studies including 2268 participants were eligible and included in the meta-analysis. Twenty-two trials were undertaken in China and seven outside of China. Acupuncture showed clinically significant reductions in the severity of depression compared to usual care (Hedges (g) = 0.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.18 to 0.63), sham acupuncture (g = 0.55, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.79), and as an adjunct to anti-depressant medication (g = 0.84, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.07). A significant correlation between an increase in the number of acupuncture treatments delivered and reduction in the severity of depression ( LIMITATIONS: The majority of the included trials were at a high risk of bias for performance blinding. The applicability of findings in Chinese populations to other populations is unclear, due to the use of a higher treatment frequency and number of treatments in China. The majority of trials did not report any post-trial follow-up and safety reporting was poor.

conclusionsAcupuncture may be a suitable adjunct to usual care and standard anti-depressant medication.

Indexed as

acupuncturedepressiondosagefrequency

Identifiers

PMID31370200
PMCPMC6722678
OpenAlexW2965806805

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.