Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2021, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (32): 5197-5203.doi: 10.12307/2021.224

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Characteristics of randomized controlled trials on acupuncture for stress urinary incontinence in women

Bai Fuyu1, Wang Mengqi2, Xue Feng3, Li Zhenrui1, Yan Qinghao1, Zhang Zhiyi1, Wang Feng1, 4   

  1. 1Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China; 2School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China; 3Central Hospital of Fengxian District, Shanghai 201499, China; 4Xiangshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200020, China

  • Received:2020-07-20 Revised:2020-07-22 Accepted:2020-09-15 Online:2021-11-18 Published:2021-07-26
  • Contact: Wang Feng, Associate chief physician, Master’s supervisor, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China; Xiangshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200020, China
  • About author:Bai Fuyu, Master candidate, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China
  • Supported by:
    The Chinese Medicine Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, No. 2014LP041A (to WF); Science and Technology Project of Shanghai Huangpu District, No. HKW201405 (to WF); The Project of Improving Diagnosis and Treatment using Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Municipal Health and Family Planning Commission, No. Zyix-2017033 (to WF); Scientific Research Project of Shanghai Huangpu District Health Commission, No.                             ZY-2019RCTDPY-1004 (to WF)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Numerous literatures have reviewed and analyzed acupuncture and moxibustion for stress urinary incontinence; however, there are some limitations, such as no comprehensive or targeted analysis of the individual efficacy of acupuncture and moxibustion on female patients.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of clinical research regarding acupuncture for treating stress urinary incontinence to provide reference for acupuncture in clinical practice. 
METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to acupuncture intervention on stress urinary incontinence published before March 15, 2020 were searched in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Clinical Evidence, CNKI, VIP, WanFang and SinoMed. Bibliometrics was used to extract data and information from the documents that met the inclusion criteria, and Cochrane was used to evaluate the quality of literature. We quantitatively analyzed acupuncture treatment for stress urinary incontinence from the number of publications, diagnostic criteria, treatment methods, selection of acupoints and meridians, frequency and duration of treatment, curative effect standards and outcome indicators, characteristics of acupuncture operation methods, and design of clinical research methods. 
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 115 Chinese and English documents that met the requirements were screened out. The number of publications has been increasing year by year and tends to be stablely increased since 2012. The use of diagnostic criteria and efficacy criteria is not uniform and standardized; treatment methods are mainly acupuncture alone or in combination with other therapies (pelvic floor muscle training and biofeedback), moxibustion alone or in combination with other therapies, acupuncture combined with other therapies. Single acupuncture therapy is mostly body acupuncture and electric acupuncture. The top 10 acupoints used are Guanyuan (RN 4), Zhongji (RN 3), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Qihai (RN 6), Shenshu (BL 23), Huiyang (BL 35), Zusanli (ST 36), Zhongliao (BL 33), Ciliao (BL 32), Baihui (DU 20). The BL, RN, GB and KI meridians are the most used. Subjective and objective indicators are combined with each other, and the effective rate is the most frequently used as the outcome indicator. Both clinical operation methods and the course of treatment are different in the documents. The quality of methodology and clinical reports are generally poor, and researches with high argumentation intensity are rare. Methods of acupuncture for stress urinary incontinence are various, mainly based on local selection of acupoints combined with acupoints selection along the meridian. The standards of design and method are different in the clinical researches, which need to be standardized and improved in the future.

Key words: stress urinary incontinence, female, acupuncture therapy, randomized controlled trial, bibliometrics, Cochrane risk-of-bias assessment

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