ReviewVeterinary world2025
Effectiveness of acupuncture for equine laminitis: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Veterinary world, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Efficacy of acupuncture in racehorses: A review.Open veterinary journal · 2025Pooled it
- Thermosensitive Chitosan/Gelatin Hydrogels in Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine: A Prospective Review on Modernizing Acupoint Embedding.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background and Aim: In the past 20 years, acupuncture has been utilized as an alternative therapy for equine laminitis despite a lack of clinical evidence to support its effectiveness. Information from previous studies needs to be evaluated holistically to verify the effectiveness of acupuncture. This meta-analysis aimed to comprehensively investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for laminitis in horses. Materials and Methods: A total of 7 studies out of 145 were selected in the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest databases using the keywords "equine laminitis," "acupuncture," "horses," and "lameness score." Articles were selected following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis flow diagram, and the extracted data were analyzed using OpenMEE software to determine Hedges' d effect size and Log Odds Ratio. Results: As a result, this meta-analysis study reported that acupuncture improves horses with laminitis (Odds Ratio = 2.254; 95% CI = 1.167-4.355) and has a favorable effect on lameness scores (mean difference = -5.008; 95% CI = -8.094--1.923). Conclusion: This meta-analysis enhanced the clinical studies demonstrating that twice-weekly acupuncture performed for 4 weeks consecutively can ameliorate lameness scores and a horse's potential for recovery. These investigations have led to the implementation of dry needling, hemo-acupuncture, aqua-acupuncture, and electroacupuncture as alternate treatments for equine laminitis.
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.