Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Efficacy of acupuncture combined with medication in the treatment of sciatica: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Fanghan Cui

School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250300, China;

For correspondence:- Email: cfhan937@163.com

Accepted: 26 July 2024 Published: 31 August 2024

Citation: Cui F. Efficacy of acupuncture combined with medication in the treatment of sciatica: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Trop J Pharm Res 2024; 23(8):1371-1377 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v23i8.19

© 2024 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of acupuncture combined with medication in the treatment of sciatica using a systematic review approach.

Methods: Databases such as CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP, and PubMed were searched using keywords which include "acupuncture", "electro-acupuncture”, "millimeters", "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs", "corticosteroids", “sciatica”, and "vitamins", to identify relevant literature on the treatment of sciatica using acupuncture and moxibustion combined with drugs. The review adopted the Review Manager 5.3 software for meta-analysis of all data.

Results: The combined effect size RR = 1.12, Z = 3.5 (p < 0.05), 95 % CI (1.05, 1.20) in the forest plot of overall effectiveness rate. Also, combined diamond of the effective outcome in the forest plot was located on the right side of the midline, the combined effect size STD = -1.25, Z = 7.1 (p < 0.00001), 95 % CI (-1.59, -0.90) in the forest plot of VAS scores.

Conclusion: Acupuncture combined with medication treatment reduces pain, and improves total effectiveness and cure rate of sciatica treatment. The exact efficacy still needs to be confirmed by large-scale and multi-center randomized controlled trials (RCT).

Keywords: Acupuncture, Medication, Sciatica, Efficacy, Meta-analysis