eCAM Advance Access originally published online on October 5, 2007
eCAM 2009 6(1):41-48; doi:10.1093/ecam/nem130
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Review |
Randomized Clinical Trials on Acupuncture in Korean Literature: A Systematic Review
1Department of Oriental Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan, South Korea, 2Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, Exeter, UK and 3Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea
The aim of this systematic review was to summarize randomized clinical trials (RCTs) assessing the effectiveness of acupuncture as published in Korean literature. Systematic searches were conducted on eight Korean medical databases. Manual searches were also conducted through eight major Korean medical journals. The methodological quality was assessed using a Jadad score. Studies evaluating needle acupuncture or auricular acupuncture (AA) with or without electrical stimulation were considered if they were sham or placebo-controlled or controlled against a comparative intervention. We also excluded acupuncture as an adjuvant to other treatments and other forms of acupuncture were excluded. Seven hundred and nine possibly relevant studies were identified and 10 RCTs were included. The methodological quality of the trials was generally poor. Manual acupuncture was compared to placebo acupuncture in four studies of patients with chronic low back pain, shoulder pain, premenstrual syndrome and allergic rhinitis. Three studies tested AA (two trials) and electroacupuncture (one trial) against no treatment, while three trials compared acupuncture with other active therapeutic controls. The methodological limitations of the included trials make their contribution to the current clinical evidence of acupuncture somewhat limited. The trial for premenstrual syndrome, shoulder pain and chronic low back pain added a limited contribution among those included RCTs. However, well-designed RCTs of acupuncture with a rigorous methodology are in progress or have been completed in Korea and will contribute to establish or contribute to the current progress of research in this field.
Keywords: acupuncture – clinical trial – Korean medicine – systematic review
For reprints and all correspondence: Byung-Cheul Shin, OMD, PhD, LAc, Department of Oriental Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang University, Iksan, 570-749, South Korea. Tel: +82-63-859-2807; Fax: +82-63-841-0033; E-mail: shinbc{at}wonkwang.ac.kr; shinbc{at}hanmail.net
The first two authors contributed equally to this study.
Received November 29, 2006; accepted July 23, 2007