EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF ACUPUNCTURE FOR VERTEBRAL COMPRESSION FRACTURES:A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Background :The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of vertebral compression fractures by meta-analysis
Methods Through searching PubMed, cochrane library, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP database from the establishment of the database to August 18, 2022, articles on clinical randomized controlled trials related to acupuncture for vertebral compression fracture were recorded in NoteExpress for combined screening. Cochrane risk assessment criteria were used to evaluate the quality of the literature. Two reviewers independently assessed the literature for control. Literatures meeting the criteria were selected for meta-analysis using RevMan and Stata.
Results Twenty-eight studies with a total of 2789 patients were eventually included. The analysis results showed that compared with the control group, the experimental group significantly reduced the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) one month after surgery (MD = −1.57, 95% CI: [−1.88, −1.27], P < 0.05) and the incidence of adverse reactions (RR=0.27, 95%CI: [0.20, 0.38], P < 0.05), improved the effective rate (RR= 1.25, 95%Cl:[1.21, 1.29], P= < 0.05), spinal dysfunction score (ODI) (MD = −3.09, 95%CI: [−5.53, −0.65], P < 0.05), bone mineral density (MD = 0.04, 95%CI: [0.01, 0.06], P < 0.05).
Conclusion Compared with the control group, acupuncture can effectively relieve pain, increase bone density, and reduce ODI score with a low incidence of adverse reactions, which has a significant therapeutic effect on vertebral compression fractures