ArticleCureus2021
The Effectiveness of Acupuncture on Headache Intensity and Frequency in Patients With Tension-Type Headache: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Article in Cureus, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chiropractic Management of Adults with Cervicogenic or Tension-Type Headaches: Development of a Clinical Practice Guideline.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of different acupuncture-related therapies for tension-type headache: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture and related therapies for tension-type headache: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Core Outcome Set Development for Tension-Type Headache Treatment Using Traditional Chinese Medicine: Protocol for a Delphi Consensus Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- A Bibliometric Analysis of Acupuncture Treatment of Tension-Type Headache from 2003 to 2022.Journal of pain research · 2023Review
- Current Understanding of the Pathophysiology and Approach to Tension-Type Headache.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction Headache disorders are one of the most common health problems. Tension-type headache (TTH) is the most prevalent type of primary headache in adults. Several conservative treatments have been used for the management of TTH, such as analgesics, acupuncture, manual therapy, spinal mobilization. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of acupuncture in patients with TTH. Methods and materials PubMed, PEDro database, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched from January 2000 until February 2021, as well as the reference lists from identified articles. Studies of various acupuncture types were included, but only randomized controlled trials and clinical trials were selected. The studies were screened using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) question. Details about the type of acupuncture, sample size, outcome measures, results, and statistical significance were extracted from the selected studies. A short-term (after the last treatment) and long-term meta-analysis for pain intensity and frequency of headaches was conducted. The I
Indexed as
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.