A Computational Framework to Study the Effect of Acupuncture on Obesity by Integrating Multiple Levels of Data

In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of obesity by a computational framework integrating randomized controlled trials published in China and abroad. Specifically, clinical trial documents published on CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 2007-2017 were downloaded and analyzed using Stata 15.1 system. As a result, a total of 13 articles were imported and 1052 patients were included. The analyses showed that the overall effect of an acupuncture group and a control group was not significant with P > 0.01. However, the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the diet and exercise instruction group with P < 0.01; the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the oral Chinese and western medicine group with P < 0.01. In conclusion, acupuncture as a complementary alternative therapy is recommended for the treatment of obesity.