Intranasal acupuncture for allergic rhinitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To evaluate the efficacy of intranasal acupuncture as a treatment for allergic rhinitis (AR) through a comprehensive review.

Comprehensive searches were performed in both Chinese (CNKI, VIP, CBM, and Wanfang) and English databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) to gather randomized controlled trials available from the inception of the database until August 2024. The primary outcomes considered were the effectiveness rate, visual analog scale score, total nasal symptom scores, total nonnasal symptom scores, Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality-of-Life Questionnaire score, adverse effects, and follow-up observations. The quality of each study was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool, and data analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.4 software.

This study incorporated 14 articles involving a total of 1009 patients. The meta-analysis revealed that patients with AR who underwent intranasal acupuncture experienced more significant improvements compared to the control group. Notably, the treatment considerably improved both nasal and nonnasal symptoms, along with the patients' quality of life. Moreover, during the follow-up, it was noted that intranasal acupuncture patients had a lower recurrence rate compared to the control group, indicating better long-term effects in alleviating symptoms like nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing. Nonetheless, there was no marked improvement of nasal itching. It's noteworthy that some adverse effects were reported, but all were mild.

The findings suggest that intranasal acupuncture serves as an effective intervention for AR, particularly in alleviating both nasal and nonnasal symptoms and enhancing quality of life. However, these positive outcomes should be approached with caution, and further high-quality and extensive studies to substantiate these results are warranted.