Effectiveness of acupuncture-related therapies on schizophrenia: a Bayesian network Meta-analysis

To create the hierarchical model for the comparison of efficacy of different ATs for schizophrenia.

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, The Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Database, and SinoMed were searched using a specified search strategy to identify relevant studies up to December 2021. The data were extracted independently by two reviewers. The quality of included trials was evaluated based on the guidelines of "Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions". Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted by statistical analysis software Addis 1.16.6 and Stata 15.1.

In total, 60 randomized controlled trials covering 4810 patients were enrolled. The network meta-analysis result showed that Body Acupuncture (BA), BA + Electro-acupuncture (EA), Scalp Acupuncture (SA) + EA, Auricular Acupuncture (AA), Low-dose medication and Acupuncture (LA), Acupoint Injection (AI), and Acupoint Catgut Embedding (ACE), when combined with Western Medications (WM), demonstrated a better clinical effect at improving the symptoms of schizophrenia, compared to WM alone. Results of rank probability showed that BA, when combined with WM, was the most optimal AT for schizophrenia at decreasing three aspects of PANSS scale score.

Acupuncture-related therapies help improve the symptoms of schizophrenia, and BA combined with WM may be a better therapy for schizophrenia. This study has been registered on the "PROSPERO" website, and the registration number is CRD42021227403.