Efficacy of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a highly prevalent and potentially fatal respiratory condition. Acute exacerbations can accelerate lung function decline and increase mortality. Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an adjunctive treatment for respiratory diseases, but its effectiveness in acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) remains controversial. Existing evaluations on this topic are limited in scope and depth. This study aimed to provide a more comprehensive review to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture as an adjuvant treatment for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Study design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of existing randomized controlled trials on acupuncture-assisted treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Methods: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing acupuncture combined with conventional Western medicine to conventional Western medicine alone in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). Our literature search covered ten databases, including PubMed and Web of Science ect., up until March 2025. The primary outcome was the effective rate, while secondary outcomes included lung function (FEV Results: The study included 31 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 2,299 participants. The studies were primarily conducted in hospital inpatient departments, and the typical treatment duration ranged from 1 to 2 weeks. Compared with conventional Western medicine alone, acupuncture combined with conventional Western medicine showed greater effectiveness (RR = 1.23, 95%CI 1.17 ~ 1.29, Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that acupuncture, as an adjunctive treatment for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, improves clinical efficacy and key outcomes. Our findings are consistent with previous studies that demonstrated improvements in the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and arterial blood gas parameters (PaO2 and PaCO2). Unlike previous meta-analyses, the present study showed that adjunctive acupuncture significantly improved patient lung function FEV Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ ID:CRD42024528155.