ReviewJournal of pain research2021
Efficacy of Acupuncture-Related Therapy in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Journal of pain research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 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
24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of Mongolian medicines warm acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The efficacy of acupuncture and related treatments on chronic pelvic inflammatory disease: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical effect and contributing factors of acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and pairwise and exploratory network meta-analysis.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2024Pooled 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 knee osteoarthritis: a multicentre randomised controlled trial assessing symptomatic and structural efficacy.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Immunomodulatory Effects of Acupuncture on Inflammatory Markers in Patients with Musculoskeletal Pain: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Electroacupuncture Alleviates KOA-Induced Pain and Cartilage Degeneration via NGF/TrkA Pathway.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Acupuncture treatment for Sjögren's syndrome: a narrative review on mechanism of treatment and clinical application.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Fire needling acupuncture attenuates synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration in knee osteoarthritis via SDF-1/CXCR4-mediated macrophage polarization.Clinical rheumatology · 2025Article
- Effect of warm acupuncture and acupoint massage on postoperative gastrointestinal function in gastric cancer surgery patients: A meta-analysis.World journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2025Article
- Therapeutic Effects of Fire Needling Acupuncture on Pain Relief and Cartilage Protection in MIA-Induced Knee Osteoarthritis Rats: The Role of Macrophage Polarization in Synovium and Angiogenesis in Subchondral Bone.Journal of inflammation research · 2025Article
- Effect of Acupuncture on Functional Connectivity of the Limbic Network in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- The effects of needle and warm needle on hemodynamic responses at different acupoints in patients with knee osteoarthritis.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Effect of warm needle therapy guided by ultrasound on pain relief and improvement of physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.American journal of translational research · 2024Article
- Effect of acupuncture for patients with knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a double-dummy randomized controlled trial.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2023Article
- Optimal acupuncture protocol improving symptoms of typical dry eye syndrome: meta-analysis and systematic review.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Electroacupuncture activated local sympathetic noradrenergic signaling to relieve synovitis and referred pain behaviors in knee osteoarthritis rats.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Article
- The Effectiveness Comparison of Different Acupuncture-Related Therapies on Knee Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2022Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Acupuncture-Related Therapies for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Protocol for Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveKnee osteoarthritis (KOA) is prevalent in middle-aged and elderly people. This condition negatively affects the quality of life of patients. Although non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often used to relieve symptoms associated with KOA, it is associated with many side effects. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapies have been applied in the treatment of KOA. However, the efficacy of various acupuncture and moxibustion treatments has not been compared.
methodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the application of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of KOA were searched in English databases and Chinese databases. Data were retrieved from establishment of the database to September 2020. Data analysis was performed using Stata14.0 and GeMTC 0.14.3 softwares.
resultsA total of 40 RCTs involving 3215 patients with KOA were retrieved. Network meta-analysis revealed that the fire needle was superior to western medicine, electro-acupuncture, conventional acupuncture, warm needle and sham acupuncture; warm needle was better than conventional acupuncture and western medicine whereas electro-acupuncture was better than conventional acupuncture in improving pain scores in the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Moreover, we found that fire needle and warm needle more effectively improved WOMAC stiffness scores than western medicine and sham moxibustion, whereas electro-acupuncture was superior to western medicine and sham moxibustion in improving WOMAC stiffness scores. Further analysis revealed that fire needle, warm needle and electro-acupuncture were more effective in improving WOMAC joint function scores than conventional acupuncture and western medicine. The fire needle was superior to conventional acupuncture and sham acupuncture, whereas electro-acupuncture was better than western medicine, conventional acupuncture and sham acupuncture in improving visual analogue scale scores.
conclusionThis study shows that fire needle is superior to warm needle and electro-acupuncture, whereas warm needle and electro-acupuncture are better than conventional acupuncture, western medicine, sham moxibustion and sham acupuncture.
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.