Systematic review and Meta-analysis of acupuncture intervention on hot flushes in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Objective \nTo assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for hot flushes (HFs) in women with breast cancer (BC). \n \n \nMethods \nTen databases (PubMed, Springer, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wan Fang Database) were searched from their inceptions to autumn 2017 without language restrictions. The searching terms in English and Chinese literatures were breast tumors/breast neoplasms/breast tumor/breast neoplasm/breast cancer/breast cancers/breast carcinoma/mammary cancer/mammary neoplasm/mammary neoplasms/mammary carcinoma hot flushes / hot flashes acupuncture/ electro-acupuncture / needle/ acupoint . Finally, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were aggregated to evaluate the therapeutic effect of acupuncture for HFs in women with BC. \n \n \nResults \nEleven articles were systematically reviewed, and five trials (692 patients) were included in the Meta-analysis. Significant combined effects of acupuncture were observed in Hot Flash Related quality of life (d=-3.14; 95% CI, -4.93 to -1.34; P=0.000 6; I2 = 54%), however, no effect was evident for hot flash frequency. The articles included had low risk of bias. No serious adverse effects were reported in the included studies. \n \n \nConclusions \nAcupuncture are associated with significant effects on HFs in women with BC. Large randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were recommended to carry out in China to verify the conclusion. \n \n \nKey words: \nAcupuncture;\xa0Breast neoplasms;\xa0Meta-analysis;\xa0Hot flashes;\xa0Systematic review