Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35301577›Full record

Trial reportEuropean archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery2022

Acupuncture and its effect on cytokine and chemokine profiles in seasonal allergic rhinitis: a preliminary three-armed, randomized, controlled trial.

Donata Gellrich, Florian Pfab, Miriam Ortiz, Sylvia Binting, Benno Brinkhaus, Moritz Gröger

Open access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Review
  6. A Bibliometric Analysis of Chinese Medicine for Allergic Rhinitis.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Donata Gellrich *Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. Donata.Gellrich@med.uni-muenchen.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2709-0953
Florian Pfab *Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Miriam OrtizCharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitält, Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Economics, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Berlin, Germany.
Sylvia BintingCharité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitält, Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Economics, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Berlin, Germany.
Benno Brinkhaus *Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitält, Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Economics, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Berlin, Germany.
Moritz Gröger *Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DELMU Klinikum · DEMedical Genetics Center · DE

Funding

German Research Foundation (DFG) WI 957/16-1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeNumerous studies have demonstrated effectiveness for acupuncture in the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR). However, the underlying mechanism remains still unclear.

methods29 SAR patients were recruited from a large randomized, controlled trial investigating the efficacy of acupuncture in SAR. 16 patients were treated by acupuncture plus rescue medication (RM, cetirizine), 6 patients received sham acupuncture plus RM and 8 patients RM alone over 8 weeks. Patients were blinded to the allocation to real or sham acupuncture. At baseline and different time-points during intervention, plasma and nasal concentration of mediators of various biological functions were determined in addition to validated disease-specific questionnaires.

resultsThe concentration of biomarkers related to the Th1-, Th2-, and Treg-cluster was not changed in patients who received acupuncture, in neither plasma nor nasal fluid. However, with respect to eotaxin and some unspecific pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1b, IL-8, IP-10, MIP-1b, MCP-1), acupuncture led to a, partially significantly, lower nasal concentration than sham acupuncture or RM. Furthermore, the nasal symptom score was significantly reduced in patients only after real acupuncture.

conclusionIn SAR, acupuncture reduces the intranasal unspecific inflammation, but does not seem to act immunologically on the Th1-Th2-imbalance.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyRhinitis, AllergicRhinitis, Allergic, SeasonalChemokinesCytokinesHumansTreatment OutcomeChemokinesCytokinesAcupunctureChemokinesCytokinesNasal secretionSeasonal allergic rhinitis

Identifiers

PMID35301577
PMCPMC8929452
OpenAlexW4220846018

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.