A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Acupuncture Effects On The Acupoints In Patients With Primary Dysmenorrhea

Background Meridian acupoints are the main stimulation parts of acupuncture,acupoint effect is the basis of acupuncture therapy effect.Deqi is composite sensations that patients and doctors feel after acupuncture in acupoints.Historically,deqi has long been regarded as the key step in the process of acupuncture therapy,and is closely related with acupuncture effect.Acupuncture analgesia is the most thoroughly studied and best documented condition for treatment with acupuncture.There are researches that discover deqi is closely connected with acupuncture analgesia effect.Therefore pain diseases should be studied emphatically as a breakthrough in the research of relationship between deqi and curative effect of acupuncture.Primary dysmenorrhea could serve as a suitable vehicle to study the relationship between deqi and curative effect of acupuncture because it is a common and frequently encountered disease in young women which is abundant in source,and acupuncture treatment effect is remarkable.Objective To evaluate the influence of Deqi on acupoint effects in primary dysmenorrhea(PD)patients.Methods Following databases were searched without language or the type of publication restrictions from their inception until May 2017:China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI),VIP Database,Wanfang Database,Chinese Biomedical Literature Database(CBM),The Cochrane Library CENTRAL,MEDLINE,Embase,AMED,CINAHL Plus,PsycINFO.In addition,we also searched 5 registers of ongoing trials,the reference lists of included articles and grey literature via OpenGrey.All randomized controlled trials(RCTs)and quasi-randomized controlled trials(q-RCTs)that compared the outcome of acupuncture with Deqi with that of acupuncture without Deqi or with different Deqi elements were included.The risk of bias were assessed using the criteria described in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions 5.1.0.RevMan 5.3.5 software would be used for meta-analyses,if I2<75%and the data are clinically homogeneous.Otherwise would summarize the data in narrative form.Results 6 RCTs involving 645 patients were identified.Qualitative analysis was used because of considerable clinical heterogeneity.Six included RCTs showed that:?Whether Deqi or non-Deqi,there was the acupoint effects in terms of reducing pain and anxiety in PD patients.The analgesia effect of Deqi group is better than or equivalent to non-Deqi group.The effect of reducing anxiety was no significantly difference in the two groups.?The higher intensity of Deqi and number of Deqi acupoints obtained,the lower pain intensity and pain duration became.?The higher ratio of Deqi had a better acupoint effect of alleviating anxiety,but was not more effective in pain relieving.? Deqi appeared early and propagated to affected area took acupoint analgesia effect faster.? Better acupoint effects regarding relieving pain and symptoms was obtained when there was warm sensation locally or propagating to affected area.Conclusion The current evidence is not sufficient to draw clear conclusion about the influence of Deqi on acupoint effects in primary dysmenorrhea(PD)patients.This review protocol is registered in PROSPERO:CRD42016038518.