• Liujiao Cao, Xiuxia Li, Meixuan Li, Liang Yao, Liangying Hou, Weiyi Zhang, Yongfeng Wang, Junqiang Niu, and Kehu Yang.
• School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; Evidence Based Social Science Research Center, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China; Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730000, China; Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
• Complement Ther Med. 2020 May 1; 50: 102383.

ObjectivesAcupuncture is an alternative therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD), but its efficacy and safety are controversial. This overview aimed to summarize the existing evidence from systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) in order to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment for PD.MethodsSeven electronic databases were searched from their inception until July 2019. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR2) checklists were used to assess evidence quality and methodological quality, respectively. The outcomes of study were calculated using mean differences (MDs) and risk ratios (RRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 12 SRs/MAs were included. All 12 SRs/MAs had more than one critical weakness in AMSTAR 2 and were considered of critically low methodological quality. The quality of evidence was unsatisfactory according to the GRADE checklist. Meta-analyses showed that acupuncture combined with drug for the treatment of PD can significantly improve the total effectiveness rate compared with drug alone (RR = 1.25, 95 % CI 1.16-1.34, P < 0.001). It was also found that acupuncture combined with drug significantly improved the UPDRS I-IV total summed scores (WMD=-6.18, 95 % CI -10.32 to -2.04, P < 0.001) and Webster scores (WMD=-4.20, 95 % CI -7.59 to -0.81, P < 0.001).ConclusionAcupuncture might improve the UPDRS score, Webster score, and total effective rate in treatment of PD. It might be a safe and useful adjunctive treatment for patients with PD. However, we should interpret the findings of these reviews with caution, considering the overall limited methodological and reporting quality.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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