Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of essential hypertension: a meta-analysis / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of essential hypertension through meta-analysis.Methods:RCTs about acupuncture combined with antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of essential hypertension were retrieved from CNKI, VIP, WANFANG, CBM, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science from the establishment of the databases to January 28, 2022. The risk and quality of literature publication bias were evaluated according to Cochrane 5.1.0 System Evaluation Manual, and relevant data were extracted. RevMan 5.4 software was used for meta-analysis.Results:A total of 36 RCTs involving 2 905 patients were included. Meta-analysis results showed that compared with antihypertensive drugs, acupuncture alone demonstrated advantages in reducing systolic blood pressure [ SMD=-0.70 (-1.05, -0.36), P<0.01], diastolic blood pressure [ SMD=-0.69(-1.06, -0.32), P<0.01], antihypertensive efficacy [ RR=1.11 (1.04, 1.19), P<0.01], symptomes efficacy [ RR=1.21 (1.11, 1.31), P<0.01] and comprehensive efficacy [ RR=1.35 (1.16, 1.57), P<0.01], without serious adverse reactions. Conclusion:Acupuncture alone has good clinical efficacy and safety in the treatment of essential hypertension, compared with antihypertensive drugs alone. However, researches with large samples and high quality are still needed to support the conclusion.