ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2021
Acupuncture for Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Potential Mechanism from an Anti-Inflammatory Perspective.
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 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for primary dysmenorrhoea: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.BMJ evidence-based medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Should acupuncture become a complementary therapy in the treatment of uterine fibroid: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Pharmacological Effects of Wenjing Decoction in a Rat Model of Cold Coagulation and Blood Stasis Primary Dysmenorrhea: An Integrated Analysis of Serum Pharmacochemistry, Network Pharmacology and Metabolomics.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Core Acupoint Prescription Patterns for Primary Dysmenorrhea: Data Mining and Network-Based Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Effects of Acupuncture on Uterine Hemodynamics and Early-Phase Pain Relief in Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Holistic approach to dysmenorrhea management: Integrating pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for improved women's health in the Middle East and Africa.BMC women's health · 2025Review
- Traditional Chinese medicine treatment strategies for primary dysmenorrhea.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Efficacy and Safety of Non-Pharmacological Therapies for Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Effects of low-frequency and high-frequency electroacupuncture pretreatment on the COX-2/mPGES-1/PGE2 pathway in a rat model of cold-coagulation dysmenorrhea.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture and Parecoxib Reduce Inflammatory Injury in a Primary Dysmenorrhea Rat Model: Investigating the Role of the COX-2/NF-κB/NLRP3 Pathway.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Article
- Ginger Moxibustion Activates TRPV1 to Modulate the Locus Coeruleus-Spinal Cord-Uterus Pathway and Alleviates Primary Dysmenorrhea in Rats.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Recent advances in acupuncture for pain relief.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Mechanism of action of Taohong Siwu decoction in the alleviation of primary dysmenorrhea.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- To explore the mechanism of acupoint application in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea by 16S rDNA sequencing and metabolomics.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Article
- Comparison and effect of moxibustion and acupuncture on Nogo/NgR signaling pathway in rats with cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2023Article
- Revealing the Central Mechanism of Acupuncture for Primary Dysmenorrhea Based on Neuroimaging: A Narrative Review.Pain research & management · 2023Review
- Ge-Gen Decoction Exerts an Anti-Primary Dysmenorrhea Effect in Rats by Inactivating the HSP90/NLRP3/NF-κB/COX-2 Pathway.Journal of inflammation research · 2023Article
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 at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The low adverse effects of acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhea (PD), known as one of the most commonly reported gynecological debilitating conditions affecting women's overall health, have been thus far confirmed. Moreover, it has been increasingly recognized that inflammation is involved in such menstrual cramps, and recent studies have further shown that the anti-inflammatory effects of acupuncture are helpful in its control. This review portrays the role of inflammation in PD pathophysiology, provides evidence from clinical and animal studies on acupuncture for inflammation-induced visceral pain, and reflects on acupuncture-related therapies for dysmenorrhea with regard to their anti-inflammatory characteristics. Further research accordingly needs to be carried out to clarify the effects of acupuncture on proinflammatory factors in PD, particularly chemokines and leukocytes. Future studies on this condition from an anti-inflammatory perspective should be also performed in line with the notion of emphasizing stimulation modes to optimize the clinical modalities of acupuncture. Additionally, the effects and mechanism of more convenient self-healing approaches such as TENS/TEAS for PD should be investigated.
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.