Acupuncture for shoulder-hand syndrome after stroke: An overview of systematic reviews

To provide evidence, this review evaluated the methodological quality, risk of bias, and reporting quality of SRs/MAs in the treatment of shoulder-hand syndrome after stroke with acupuncture.

Systematic reviews and Meta analyses (SRs/MAs) of acupuncture for shoulder and hand syndromes after stroke were retrieved from 6 databases from inception to May 1, 2022. Two reviewers independently screened the literature and extracted the data, then used Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2), Bias Risk in Systematic Review (ROBIS), and Preferred Report Item for Systematic review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA), Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) to assess methodological quality, risk of bias, quality of reporting, and quality of evidence.

We included 7 SRs/MAs, of which all SRs/MAs had very low AMSTAR-2 assessment quality and one study had a very low assessment bias risk. According to the PRISMA checklist, Protocol and registration, Synthesis of results, Summary of evidence, Conclusions and Funding were the main reporting limitations. GRADE evaluation showed a total of 37 results, but no high-quality evidence results, 6 results (16.22%) of the evidence quality were moderate, and supported acupuncture combined with exercise rehabilitation and drug therapy was better than exercise joint drug rehabilitation and rehabilitation, we also found that the result of limitations were the main factors that influence the evidence of low quality, followed by imprecision, inconsistency, and publication bias.

Acupuncture is a relatively safe and effective adjuvant therapy for shoulder and hand syndromes after stroke. However, because of the low quality of SRs/MAs evidence supporting these findings, high-quality randomized controlled trials should be conducted, and the quality of relevant SRs should be improved to provide evidence for clinical application.