ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2022
Effectiveness and Safety of Electroacupuncture for Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 5 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
13 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy and influencing factors of acupuncture in major depressive disorder: a systematic review and exploratory network meta-analysis.CNS spectrums · 2026Pooled it
- Research trends and hotspots of electroacupuncture for depression: a bibliometric and visual analysis (2005-2025).Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Acupuncture for Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: An Evidence Map of Randomized Controlled Trials, Systematic Reviews, and Clinical Guidelines.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Bibliometric and visual analysis in the field of electroacupuncture's analgesia and regulation on negative emotion from 2014 to 2024.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of electroacupuncture on anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Mechanism-Driven Translation of Electroacupuncture for Depression: Bridging the Gap Between Preclinical and Clinical Research.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
- Advances in the Antidepressant Effects of Electroacupuncture Through Regulation of Microglia-Mediated BDNF Signaling and Hippocampal Neurogenesis.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
- Neuromodulatory Effects of Alternating Current Electroacupuncture on PTSD-like Behaviors via Gut-Brain Axis Communication.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Choline Alphoscerate: A Therapeutic Option for the Management of Subthreshold Depression in the Older Population.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Benefit of electroacupuncture for pulmonary infections in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a retrospective study.American journal of translational research · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture alleviates sciatic nerve injury in sciatica rats by regulating BDNF and NGF levels, myelin sheath degradation, and autophagy.Open life sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Research progress on acupuncture treatment in central nervous system diseases based on NLRP3 inflammasome in animal models.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
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
Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture as an effective adjunctive therapy for patients with depression. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the treatment of depression by electroacupuncture therapy from inception to September 2021 were searched and collected in eight databases. HAMD, SDS, and Adverse Reactions were used as outcome indicators. The quality of relevant articles was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool. The quality of evidence for each outcome was assessed through the Grading of Recommendations Assessment and the Development and Evaluation approach. Stata 15.0 software was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 16 depression-related RCTs were included in this meta-analysis. For the main outcome, electroacupuncture significantly reduced HAMD scores (I Conclusions: Our meta-analysis shows that electroacupuncture reduces HAMD scores. It is suggested to use electroacupuncture plus antidepressants to improve the curative effect and effectively reduce drug side effects.
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.