Quality of the Evidence Supporting the Role of Acupuncture Interventions for Vascular Dementia

Hongshuo Shi; Xuecheng Zhang; Guomin Si; Hongling Jia

doi:10.2147/NDT.S389924

Quality of the Evidence Supporting the Role of Acupuncture Interventions for Vascular Dementia

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2023 Jan 4:19:27-48. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S389924. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongshuo Shi^#^{1

2}, Xuecheng Zhang^#^{3

4}, Guomin Si^{1

2}, Hongling Jia⁵

Affiliations

¹ Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
² Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
³ Key Laboratory of Chinese Internal Medicine of Ministry of Education, Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Inflammation is an important pathogenesis of vascular dementia (VaD), and the regulatory effect of acupuncture on neuroinflammation has received extensive attention. There is conflicting evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for postpartum VaD. This overview aims to systematically evaluate systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) of acupuncture on VaD.

Methods: From the establishment of the electronic database to August 2022, search and identify SRs/MAs on acupuncture treatment for VaD. The Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 (PRISMA 2020), and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system were used to evaluate the methodological, reporting, and evidence quality of the included SRs/MAs.

Results: Twelve SRs/MAs were included in this research, and the quality of methodological, reporting, and evidence for these SRs/MAs were not satisfactory. The shortcomings of these SRs/MAs mainly include lack of protocol registration, incomplete literature search, missing list of excluded literature, and high risk of bias of included original clinical trials.

Conclusion: VaD patients may benefit from acupuncture therapy. However, the high risk of bias in original clinical trials and the low quality of SRs/MAs make evidence-based decisions less reliable.

Keywords: acupuncture; meta-analyses; overview; randomised controlled trials; systematic reviews; vascular dementia.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

Shandong Province 2021 Qilu Medical School TCM Characteristic Technology Arrangement and Promotion Project, No. 20214515, “Qilu Dragon Tiger Battle Analgesic Acupuncture TCM Characteristic Technology”.