ReviewJournal of pain research2025
Long Term Effects of Acupuncture for Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of pain research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
- Clinical evidence on integrated Chinese-Western medicine for primary dysmenorrhea.Integrative medicine research · 2026Article
- Local versus distal acupoint low-level light therapy for pain relief in primary dysmenorrhea: protocol for a randomized, assessor- and statistician-blinded, pilot study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a recurrent disease. The current treatments for PD often fail to provide long-lasting effects, underscoring the necessity for new treatment options that can offer durable benefits. Previous studies have indicated that the durable effect of acupuncture for PD remains uncertain. In this review, we aimed to evaluate the durable effect after completion of treatment. Methods: Both English and Chinese literature were comprehensively retrieved from eight databases up to January 24, 2025. Two independent reviewers conducted screening and data extraction. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool. Meta-analysis was conducted where applicable. Pooled continuous data were expressed as mean differences (MD) and the safety outcomes were expressed through odds ratio (OR). Results: Fourteen randomized controlled trials enrolled 970 patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Acupuncture outperformed no intervention in reducing pain intensity measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) (MD -47.80; 95% CI -48.63 to -46.97; p < 0.0001) and Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (MD -8.55; 95% CI -11.46 to -5.64; p < 0.0001), Cox Menstrual Symptom Scale (CMSS) duration score (MD -18.24; 95% CI -22.39 to -14.09; p < 0.0001) and severity score (MD -12.96; 95% CI -16.41 to -9.51; p < 0.0001) at 3 menstrual cycles post-treatment. Compared to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acupuncture showed superior pain relief measured by VAS (MD -29.89; 95% CI -37.63 to -22.15; p < 0.0001), and symptom amelioration measured by CMSS (MD -3.00; 95% CI -5.92 to -0.08; p = 0.0043) at 3 cycles post-treatment. Acupuncture also enhanced NSAIDs' analgesic effect measured by VAS (MD -19.95; 95% CI -24.23 to -15.66; p < 0.0001). However, acupuncture presented no superiority over sham acupuncture at 3 menstrual cycles post-treatment. Conclusion: Acupuncture might provide durable post-treatment effects to primary dysmenorrhea patients up to three menstrual cycles, which was limited by high risk of bias and low certainty evidence.
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