Warm needle acupuncture in primary osteoporosis management: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundWarm needle acupuncture (WNA) is commonly used in primary osteoporosis (OP) management in China. The evidence of its effectiveness needs to be systematically reviewed.ObjectiveThe aim of the meta-analysis was to evaluate whether using WNA alone or combined with conventional medicine benefits primary OP.MethodsPubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register, Medline, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang and VIP databases were searched from their inception through 30 June 2016. RCTs applying WNA independently or as an adjunct to conventional medicine, compared with conventional medicine alone, were included. Primary outcomes were bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar vertebrae, femoral neck, Ward’s triangle and greater trochanter. The secondary outcome was chronic pain measured by VAS score. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan V.5.3 software.ResultsNine RCTs involving 572 participants were included. When WNA was used as an adjunct to conventional medicine, meta-analysis revealed a statistical difference in favour of increasing BMD of the lumbar vertebrae (mean difference (MD)=0.06, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.08, P