Subgroup analysis.

Background
In recent years, an increasing number of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have received acupuncture treatment, but there has been no systematic review to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on patients with AMD.
Purpose
This meta-analysis aims to review the clinical efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of AMD.
Methods
Randomized controlled trials up to September 4, 2022 were searched in the following databases: PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, The Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, VIP, Wanfang, and SINOMED. Two reviewers independently performed literature screening and data extraction. RevMan 5.4 was used for the meta-analysis.
Results
Nine of the 226 articles were finally included. A total of 508 AMD patients (631 eyes) were enrolled, including 360 dry eyes and 271 wet eyes. The results showed that acupuncture alone or as an adjunct therapy improved both the clinical efficacy and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of AMD patients and reduced their central macular thickness. The certainty of the evidence ranged from "low" to "very low".
Conclusion
There is no high-quality evidence that acupuncture is effective in treating patients with AMD; patients with dry AMD may benefit from acupuncture treatment. Considering the potential of acupuncture treatment for AMD, it is necessary to conduct a rigorously designed randomized controlled trials to verify its efficacy.

背景
近年来，接受针灸治疗的年龄相关性黄斑变性（age-related macular degeneration, AMD）患者数量逐年递增，但目前尚无系统评价对针灸治疗AMD患者的疗效开展评估。
目的
本项荟萃分析旨在评价针灸治疗AMD的临床疗效。
方法
截至2022年9月4日，在PubMed、Ovid Medline、Embase、Cochrane Library、中国国家知识基础设施数据库、VIP、万方及SINOMED数据库中检索随机对照试验。由2名评价员独立完成文献筛选与数据提取工作，并采用RevMan 5.4软件进行荟萃分析。
结果
最终从226篇文献中纳入9项研究，共纳入508例AMD患者（共计631只眼），其中干性AMD患眼360只、湿性AMD患眼271只。结果显示，单纯针灸治疗或作为辅助治疗手段，均可改善AMD患者的临床疗效与最佳矫正视力（best-corrected visual acuity, BCVA），并降低其黄斑中心凹厚度。本研究证据质量等级为低至极低。
结论
目前尚无高质量证据证实针灸治疗AMD患者的有效性，但干性AMD患者或可从针灸治疗中获益。鉴于针灸治疗AMD的潜在应用价值，亟需开展设计严谨的随机对照试验以验证其疗效。