Trial reportMedicine2020
The effect of acupuncture on depression and its correlation with metabolic alterations: A randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture combined with antidepressants for mild-to-moderate depressive disorders: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Research in nursing & health · 2023Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture as a rapid-onset and safer complementary therapy for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- The effects of an anti-inflammatory diet alone or in combination with acupuncture on mental health, anthropometric indices, and metabolic status in diabetic patients with depression: a randomized, controlled clinical trial.Nutrition & diabetes · 2025Trial
- Changes in Glutathione Metabolites and Reactive Oxygen Species from Baseline to Post-Treatment in Breast Cancer Survivors with Psychoneurological Symptoms Receiving Acupuncture.Integrative cancer therapiesTrial
- Acupuncture's Multisystem Neuroimmunomodulation: Central-Peripheral Interactions in Gastroenteric, Psychiatric, and Chronic Pain Disorders.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Review
- Electroacupuncture improves depression with constipation by balancing gut microbiota in WKY rats.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Comparative efficacy and safety of acupuncture for adolescent depression: protocol for a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture on treating mild to moderate first-episode depression: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Acupuncture for Adolescent Depression Disorder: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Exploring the neural mechanisms of electroacupuncture for cognitive impairment in depression using functional near-infrared spectroscopy: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Using Serum Metabolomic Signatures to Investigate Effects of Acupuncture on Pain-Fatigue-Sleep Disturbance in Breast Cancer Survivors.Metabolites · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Feasibility of Acupuncture and Exploration of Metabolomic Alterations for Psychoneurological Symptoms Among Breast Cancer Survivors.Biological research for nursing · 2023Article
- Tryptophan and Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites and Psychoneurological Symptoms Among Breast Cancer Survivors.Pain management nursing : official journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses · 2023Article
- The efficacy and safety of acupoint catgut embedding therapy for depression: a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Antioxidant Biomolecules and Their Potential for the Treatment of Difficult-to-Treat Depression and Conventional Treatment-Resistant Depression.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Potential Mechanisms and Clinical Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Depression.Current neuropharmacology · 2022Review
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 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElectroacupuncture (EA) treatment has antidepressant effect and when patients were treated with EA and antidepressants, the effect could be maintained for a longer time. However, the effect of EA combined with antidepressants based on metabolism is still in the initial observation stage, which requires further research.
methodsA total of 60 patients with moderate depression were assigned into 2 groups at a ratio of 1:1, the EA group (receiving EA and antidepressants) and the control group (taking antidepressants only) in this randomized controlled pilot trial. The EA treatment was performed 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks and then follow up for 4 weeks. The patients' depressive mood was measured by the Hamilton Depression scale (HAMD) at baseline, week 4, week 8 and week 12. Before and after 8-week treatment, morning urine samples from all patients were analyzed by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to find possible metabolic markers of depression and of EA treatment related changes.
resultsCompared with the control group, the EA group showed more significant improvements in depressive symptoms measured by HAMD at week 4 (16.89 ± 5.74 vs 25.58 ± 7.03, P < .001), week 8 (9.59 ± 5.13 vs 25.04 ± 7.49, P < .001) and week 12 (11.07 ± 6.85 vs 27.25 ± 7.14, P < .001). The significant differences in urinary specific metabolites before and after EA treatment were malonic acid (fatty acid biosynthesis), cysteine (glutamate metabolism), glutathione (glutamate metabolism), tryptophan (tryptophan metabolism), proline (glutamate metabolism), and N-acetyl-5-hydroxytryptamine. These metabolites are involved in tryptophan metabolism, glutamate metabolism, and fatty acid biosynthesis.
conclusionEA treatment combined with antidepressants is more effective in improving depressive symptoms than antidepressants alone. EA may treat depression by acting on tryptophan metabolism, glutamate metabolism, and fatty acid biosynthesis.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-2000030786.
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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.