• Yubo Gong, Xuefeng Li, Xue Zhou, Ting Pan, Haili Wang, Chunhai Chen, Jing Wang, Siyi Wang, and Xinhua Chen.
• Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, People's Republic of China.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Dec 16; 101 (50): e32182e32182.

BackgroundTo provide evidence, this review evaluated the methodological quality, risk of bias, and reporting quality of SRs/MAs in the treatment of Facial Spasm with acupuncture.MethodsSystematic reviews and Meta analyses (SRs/MAs) of acupuncture for Facial Spasm were retrieved from 8 databases from inception to October 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.ResultsA total of 8 SRs/meta-analyses were included. All the SRs were published between 2012-2022. Based on AMSTAR-2, 8 SRs were rated critically low quality. By using the ROBIS tool, 6 SRs were rated low-risk bias. With the PRISMA-A checklist, we found 2 out of 8 SRs were found adequately reported over 70%. With the GRADE system, no high-quality evidence was found, and only two outcomes provided moderate-quality evidence. Among the downgraded factors, the risk of bias within the original trials was ranked first, followed by publication bias, inconsistency, and imprecision.ConclusionAcupuncture is a promising complementary treatment for HFS. However, due to the low quality of the SRs/MAs supporting these results, high-quality studies with rigorous study designs and larger samples are needed before widespread recommendations can be made.Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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