Acupuncture for the treatment of pregnancy-related low back pain: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

BackgroundThe effects of acupuncture are rarely studied in pregnant women. A relevant systematic review did not include comparisons with sham acupuncture (SAcu).ObjectiveTo explore the effects of acupuncture, SAcu, and standard care (SC) on pregnancy-related low back pain.MethodsWe searched five medical literature databases for articles published from inception to September 30, 2022. The primary outcome was visual analog scale (VAS) intensity after the intervention. The secondary outcomes were the overall effects of treatment, quality of life (QOL), and QOL was evaluated by the Short Form-36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36).ResultsThe network meta-analysis included eight studies and 864 patients. Six trials were at low risk of bias and two studies had a high risk of bias due to allocation concealment and blinding. Acupuncture and SAcu were relatively more advantageous in terms of analgesic effects after intervention than SC, but there were no differences between them. In terms of overall effects in number of remissions and the SF-36, Acupuncture was found to be superior to other methods, and SAcu was better than SC. Acupuncture had the highest surface under the cumulative ranking curve, followed by SAcu and SC for all outcomes.ConclusionsAcupuncture performs similarly to SAcu in pain relief and is more efficient than SC. Regarding the effectiveness of treatment and QOL, acupuncture therapy was superior to SAcu and SC.