• Junhyuk Kang, Woo-Chul Shin, Koh-Woon Kim, Sungha Kim, Hyungsuk Kim, Jae-Heung Cho, Mi-Yeon Song, and Won-Seok Chung.
• Department of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Jan 12; 103 (2): e36774e36774.

BackgroundThis systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy of electroacupuncture for the treatment of obesity.MethodsWe searched 8 electronic databases for articles published between 2005 and 2021, including only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the review. The intervention groups received either electroacupuncture alone or electroacupuncture with standard care, whereas the control groups received sham electroacupuncture, standard care, or no treatment. The primary outcome was the body mass index (BMI), and the secondary outcomes were the body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body fat mass, body fat percentage, and adverse effects. Continuous outcome data are presented as mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsThis systematic review and meta-analysis included 13 RCTs involving 779 participants. Results revealed that the BMI (MD: -0.98; 95% CI: -1.35 to -0.61), BW (MD: -1.89; 95% CI: -2.97 to -0.80), WC (MD: -2.67; 95% CI: -4.52 to -0.82), and WHR (MD: -0.03; 95% CI: -0.06 to -0.01) were significantly improved in the intervention groups compared with those in the control groups. Adverse effects were reported in 5 studies. The most commonly used acupoint in the abdomen was ST25, whereas the most commonly used acupoints in other regions were ST36 and SP6 for the treatment of obesity. ST25 was the most commonly used acupoint connected by electroacupuncture.ConclusionThis systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that electroacupuncture is an effective and safe therapy for simple obesity. To increase the reliability of this study, further detailed, long-term studies should be conducted on the effects of electroacupuncture on obesity.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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