The Quality of Methodological and Reporting in Network Meta-Analysis of Acupuncture and Moxibustion: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Table 2

Basic characteristics of eligible studies.

Study ID	Disease	Sample size	Number of interventions	Description of interventions	Number of RCT	Outcome	Risk assessment tool
Fu et al. [15]	Acute gouty arthritis	4931	10	Western medicine, acupuncture + pricking blood and cupping, Chinese medicine + cupping, acupuncture and moxibustion, Chinese medicine, Western medicine + pricking blood and cupping, pricking blood and cupping, Western medicine + acupuncture, Western medicine + massage, and Western medicine + Chinese medicine	66	Effective rate	Jadad
Ding [16]	Abdominal distension after abdominal operation	2047	7	Acupoint application, acupoint injection, acupoint massage, moxibustion, TCM enema, TCM hot ironing, and routine nursing	22	Effective rate	Jadad
Li [17]	Poststroke depression	1895	13	Acupuncture + Chinese medicine, ear bean + Chinese medicine, electric acupuncture + Chinese medicine, moxibustion + Chinese medicine, auricular acupoint electroacupuncture + Chinese medicine, head acupuncture + acupoint embedding, auricular acupoint electroacupuncture + acupuncture, ear bean + acupuncture, acupuncture + acupoint injection, acupuncture + wuxing music, wuxing music + Chinese medicine, SSRIs, and acupuncture + moxibustion	23	Effective rate	Jadad
Bu et al. [18]	Optic atrophy	1369	11	Western medicine, acupuncture, acupuncture + moxibustion, ear point + Chinese medicine, electroacupuncture, acupuncture + Chinese and Western medicine, moxibustion + Chinese and Western medicine, electroacupuncture + Chinese and Western medicine, Chinese and Western medicine, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture + Western medicine	16	Effective rate, vision, horizon, and visual evoked potential	RoB
Zhang [19]	Ankylosing spondylitis	2208	9	Sulfasalazine, acupuncture, moxibustion, bee acupuncture, acupuncture + moxibustion, acupuncture + moxibustion + cupping, and moxibustion + bee needle	25	Effective rate	RoB
Song [20]	Polycystic ovary syndrome	4605	14	Acupuncture-medication therapy, Western medicine, acupuncture and moxibustion, acupuncture, acupuncture + ear points, moxibustion + Chinese medicine, acupuncture + ear points, acupuncture + placebo, placebo + Western medicine, Chinese medicine + Western medicine, placebo, acupoint thread-embedding therapy and medication, Chinese medicine, and moxibustion	39	Ovulation rate and pregnancy rate	RoB
Yang et al. [21]	Lumbar disc herniation	2589	4	Acupuncture, acupuncture + cupping, acupuncture + massage, and acupuncture + cupping + massage	30	Pain improvement, effectiveness, cure rate, recurrence rate, and economic indicators.	RoB
Li [22]	Primary dysmenorrhea	4600	6	Acupuncture, acupuncture + moxibustion, acupuncture + indirect moxibustion, warm acupuncture, electroacupuncture, and electroacupuncture + warm acupuncture	56	Effective rate, VAS, and dysmenorrhea symptom score	RoB
Jia et al. [23]	Chronic urticaria	1186	9	Acupoint catgut embedding, acupoint catgut embedding + loratadine, acupoint catgut embedding + mizolastine, acupoint catgut embedding + cetirizine, acupoint catgut embedding + epstein, loratadine, mizolastine, cetirizine, and epstein	15	Effective rate and adverse effect	RoB
Liu [24]	Knee osteoarthritis	3417	6	Hyaluronic acid (HA), needle knife, needle knife + HA, needle knife + internal medicine, needle knife + massage, and needle knife + acupuncture	29	Effective rate, VAS, and Lysholm function scores	Jadad
Feng [25]	Primary dysmenorrhea	10259	9	Multipoint + conventional Chinese medicine therapy, multipoint + Western medicine conventional therapy, single point + TCM, TCM, single point, multipoint, Western medicine routine therapy, and placebo	103	Effective rate, VAS, CMSS, and SF-MPQ	RoB
Liu [26]	Poststroke shoulder pain	1898	9	Rehabilitation, acupuncture, acupuncture + rehabilitation, acupuncture + massage, acupuncture + TCM fumigation + rehabilitation, acupuncture + massage + cupping, acupuncture + massage + rehabilitation, acupuncture + TCM + rehabilitation, and acupuncture + joint loosening + rehabilitation	25	Effective rate, FMA, and MBI	RoB
Yang et al. [27]	Premature ovarian insufficiency	3046	18	HRT, acupuncture, moxibustion, needle-warming moxibustion, electroacupuncture, catgut implantation at acupoint , TCM, acupuncture + TCM, moxibustion + TCM, electroacupuncture + TCM, acupoint application + TCM, auricular point sticking + TCM, acupressure + TCM, catgut implantation at acupoint + TCM, acupuncture + HRT, electroacupuncture + HRT, catgut implantation at acupoint + HRT, and acupuncture + TCM + HRT	43	Effective rate and adverse effect	RoB
Zhu et al. [28]	Chronic constipation	11032	10	Acupuncture, polyethylene glycol, lactulose, linaclotide, lubiprostone, bisacodyl, prucalopride, sham acupuncture, tegaserod, and placebo	40	Symptoms of chronic constipation and side effects	Jadad
Zheng [29]	Chronic functional constipation	4324	8	Acupuncture, mosapride, insoluble fiber, massage, mineral water, probiotic, TENS, and moxibustion	33	Weekly stool frequency, Bristol score, responder rate, and adverse event	RoB
Qin [30]	Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome	1203	7	Acupuncture, electroacupuncture, alpha-blockers, antibiotics, dual therapy, sham acupuncture, and placebo	12	NIH-CPSI QoL score	RoB
Li et al. [31]	Knee osteoarthritis	2065	7	Common manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture, fire needle, warm needle, placebo, sham needle, and education	16	WOMAC, stiffness, and physical function scores	RoB
Mo et al. [32]	Lumbar disc herniation	13075	4	Tuina, traction, acupuncture, and Chinese herbs	121	Invalid rate, cure rate, VAS, and JOA	RoB
Luo et al. [33]	Primary dysmenorrhea	1511	8	Traditional acupuncture, eye acupuncture, wrist-ankle acupuncture, superficial acupuncture, moxibustion, electroacupuncture, ear acupuncture, and abdominal acupuncture	17	Effective rate	RoB
Yeh et al. [34]	Psoriasis	869	6	Acupuncture, acupressure, acupoint bloodletting, acupoint catgut embedding, Chinese herbal medicine, and narrow-band ultraviolet B	10	PASI and TCM	Jadad RoB
Chen et al. [35]	Migraine	3656	9	Acupuncture, flunarizine, metoprolol, propranolol, propranolol + flunarizine, sham acupuncture, topiramate, usual care, and waiting list	19	Migraine episodes, the number of migraine days, migraine frequency, responder rate, and adverse event rate	RoB
Tan et al. [36]	Essential hypertension	2649	15	Electroacupuncture, moxibustion, warm needle therapy, sham acupuncture, behavioral therapy, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blocker (CCB), beta-blocker, acupuncture-combined ACEI, acupuncture-combined CCB, acupuncture-combined behavior, electroacupuncture-combined CCB, sham acupuncture, and nontreatment	31	posttreatment BP changes, response rate, and MACE	RoB
Li et al. [37]	Myofascial pain syndrome	1692	22	Placebo-sham, MA, EA, DN, MET, TCT, MT, LTrP-I, MDIMST, MSN, TTM, BTX-A-TrP-I, FN, SWAM, EA&ESNC, SPM, DN&MET, BTrP-I, TrP-DN&EDU, Stretch, DN&Stretch, laser, and PT	33	Pain measurement (VAS, NRS, and PPT), adverse events (ROM), and functional status	RoB
Zhu et al. [38]	Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome	9369	7	Acupuncture, sham acupuncture, pinaverium bromide, alosetron, eluxadoline, ramosetron, and rifaximin	29	Effective rate, side effects (constipation and rash), and common acupuncture points.	Jadad
Xiong and Chen [39]	Diabetic peripheral neuropathy	2602	7	Manual acupuncture, electroacupuncture, needle knocking acupuncture, warm needling and moxibustion, mecobalamin, no interventions, and vitamin B	40	global symptom improvement	non
Yang et al. [40]	Heart failure	2116	5	Acupuncture, moxibustion, acupoint application, acupoint injection, and warming acupuncture-moxibustion	26	HFC and LVEF	RoB
Zhang et al. [41]	Obesity	2283	6	AAS, EA, ACE, WA, AR: acupuncture and related therapies and combination of acupuncture and related therapies.	34	BW, BMI, and adverse events	RoB
Corbett 2013 [42]	Knee osteoarthritis	9709	8	Interferential therapy, acupuncture, TENS, pulsed electrical stimulation, balneotherapy, aerobic exercise, sham acupuncture, and muscle-strengthening exercise	114	WOMAC pain	RoB
Wang et al. [43]	Chronic fatigue syndrome	2255	5	CbAM, SAM, Chinese herbal medicine, Western medicine, and sham acupuncture	31	Effective rate	RoB

Note: CMSS, the Cox Menstrual Symptom Scale; FMA, Fugl－Meyer motor assessment scale; MBI, modified Barthel index; TCM, traditional Chinese medicine; MACE, major adverse cardiovascular events; HFC, changes in heart function classification; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; AAS, auricular acupoint stimulation; WA, warming acupuncture; ACE, acupoint catgut embedding; EA, electroacupuncture; AR, acupuncture and related therapies.