ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2021
Clinical Randomized Controlled Study of Acupuncture Treatment on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- DBN Neural Network Model Combined with Meta-Analysis on the Curative Effect of Acupuncture and Massage.Computational intelligence and neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of acupuncture on rehabilitation treatment of children with different degrees of autism spectrum disorder: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Acupuncture and Tuina Combined with Educational Rehabilitation for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Study Protocol for a Single-Center, Three-Arm, Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
- Effect of music therapy on children with autism spectrum disorders in the Chinese population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Applying Target Trial Emulation to Evaluate Acupuncture Combined with Rehabilitation for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children: A Retrospective Single-Center Real-World Protocol.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2025Article
- Use of complementary and alternative medicine in children affected by oncologic, neurologic and liver diseases: a narrative review.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2023Review
- Acupuncture Ameliorated Behavioral Abnormalities in the Autism Rat Model via Pathways for Hippocampal Serotonin.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2023Article
- "The Evidence I Need Is Change in a Child" Healthcare Provider Perspectives on Acupuncture Therapy for Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): An Interpretive Description.Global advances in integrative medicine and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study aimed to summarize the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through literature analysis and evaluation. All studies were retrieved from various databases as follows: English databases, such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, Ovid, and Web of Science, and Chinese databases, such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang Data (WF), and Technology Periodical Database (VIP). The Cochrane Collaboration's Bias Risk Assessment Scale was used to assess the studies' risk of bias. The effects of acupuncture treatment for ASD were determined using the following indicators: childhood autism rating scale (CARS), autism behavior check list (ABC), Reynell developmental language scale (RDLS), and functional independence measure of children (WeeFIM). The risk map of bias of these studies' quality and the meta-analysis results of the indicators was prepared with RevMan 5.2 software. Finally, 16 studies were included, five of which were in English and 11 were in Chinese. The 16 studies included 1332 patients. The CARS results for subgroup analysis were as follows: acupuncture subgroup (MD = -2.65, 95% CI (-3.22, -2.07)) and acupuncture plus massage subgroup (MD = -10.35, 95% CI (-11.34, -9.36)). The ABC results were as follows: (MD = -6.70, 95% CI (-9.10, -4.29)). The analysis results of sensory, relating, language, body and object use, and social/self-help in the subitems of ABC were as follows: sensory (MD = -2.67, 95% CI (-2.90, -2.44)), relating (MD = -3.28, 95% CI (-3.55, -3.02)), language (MD = -2.45, 95% CI (-2.73, -2.16)), body and object use (MD = -1.19, 95% CI (-1.38, -1.00)), and social/self-help (MD = -2.09, 95% CI (-2.30, -1.89)). For the analysis results of comprehension and expression ages in the subitems of RDLS, the comprehension age results were as follows: (MD = 0.08, 95% CI (-0.06, 0.22),
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.