Qi Tao, Lan Hua, Zhong Chao, Zhang Ruwen, Zhang Huamei, Zhu Fang, Ji Bing
Pain Management, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Ann Palliat Med. 2022 Feb;11(2):756-765. doi: 10.21037/apm-22-109.
The treatment of herpes zoster (HZ) by the traditional Chinese medicine of acupuncture is attracting attention. However, there is still a controversy about the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment of HZ.
Articles on randomized controlled trials examining acupuncture and Western medicine treatments of HZ published since the establishment of the PubMed, Embase, Medline, and Chinese Biomedical Literature (CBM) databases to March 2021 were electronically retrieved. The Cochrane System Evaluation Manual was used for the data analysis with Review Manager 5.3 software, and the Cochrane Handbook version 5.3 systematic review writing manual was adopted to evaluate the risk of bias.
In total, 11 articles, comprising 1,156 patients (585 in the experimental group and 571 in the control group) were included in the meta-analysis, and the results showed that the treatments used in the experimental and control groups were significant differences of total treatment efficiency [odds ratio (OR) =6.76; 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.46 to 13.21; P<0.05] in terms of the incidence of posterior neuralgia (OR =0.07; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.21; P<0.05), pain-relief time [mean difference (MD) =-2.17; 95% CI: -2.90 to -1.44; P<0.05], shingles time (MD =-1.61; 95% CI: -2.84 to -0.38; P<0.05), and scabbing time (MD =-1.62; 95% CI: -2.64 to -0.61; P<0.05), and patients' visual analogue scale (VAS) pain scores improved [standard MD (SMD) =0.87; 95% CI: 0.01 to 1.73; P=0.05] was no significant difference.
Compared to Western medicine treatments, acupuncture had a better effect on HZ, reduced the posterior neuralgia rate of patients, and shortened the course of treatment, but had no obvious effect on the relief of pain.
中医针灸治疗带状疱疹（HZ）正受到关注。然而，针灸治疗HZ的有效性和安全性仍存在争议。
通过电子检索自PubMed、Embase、Medline和中国生物医学文献数据库（CBM）建立至2021年3月发表的关于针灸与西医治疗HZ的随机对照试验文章。采用Cochrane系统评价手册，使用Review Manager 5.3软件进行数据分析，并采用Cochrane手册第5.3版系统评价撰写手册评估偏倚风险。
共纳入11篇文章，涉及1156例患者（试验组585例，对照组571例）进行荟萃分析，结果显示试验组与对照组在总治疗有效率[比值比（OR）=6.76；95%置信区间（CI）：3.46至13.21；P<0.05]、后遗神经痛发生率（OR =0.07；95%CI：0.02至0.21；P<0.05）、止痛时间[平均差（MD）=-2.17；95%CI：-2.90至-1.44；P<0.05]、疱疹时间（MD =-1.61；95%CI：-2.84至-0.38；P<0.05）和结痂时间（MD =-1.62；95%CI：-2.64至-0.61；P<0.
