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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1513272
This article is part of the Research Topic The Increasing Relevance of Traditional Medicine Systems for the Primary Health Care Sector and General Practice: Global Research Perspectives – Volume II View all 7 articles
Auricular acupoint therapy for functional gastrointestinal disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
Provisionally accepted
Meng-Yuan Shen 
Ze-Jiong Li Shu-Han Wang Qin-Yi Lou 
Shan Liu DanDan Feng Dong-Dong Yang Chen-Juan Wang Ze-Kai Ying 
Tian-Chen Lin Rong Zhou Jian-Nong Wu *- Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
Introduction: This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of auricular acupoint therapy (AAT) for functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs). Methods: We conducted a thorough search across eight databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and CBM. The search covered the period from the inception of each database up to June 30, 2024. The authors independently reviewed all the references, evaluated the risk of bias, and extracted the data. GRADEpro software was utilized to calculate overall strength of evidence. A random effects or fixed effects model was selected on the basis of the P value and I². RevMan 5.3, Stata/MP 18.0, R 4.3.1 and R Studio 2023.09.0 were used for data processing. TSA 0.9.5.10 beta software was used to evaluate data stability. Results: The review included 19 randomized controlle0d trials with a total of 1681 patients (895 in the treatment group and 886 in the control group). The treatment duration ranged from 2-12 weeks. The meta-analysis revealed that, compared with the control, AAT was significantly more effective at treating FGIDs (RR: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.21--1.51; P < 0.001), reducing the symptom score (MD: -1.94; 95% CI: -3.06 to -0.85; P < 0.001; five trials), improving the SAS score (MD: -12.47; 95% CI: -13.92 to -11.01; P < 0.001; five trials), and improving the SDS score (MD: -4.97; 95% CI: -9.23 to -0.72; P = 0.02; six trials). A total of two articles mentioned relatively significant adverse reactions (MD:2.98; 95% CI: 0.51 to 17.26; P = 0.009). Sensitivity and trial sequential analyses confirmed the stability of these results. Discussion: While our meta-analysis suggests that AAT may offer benefits for FGIDs, these results must be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations in the included trials. Further investigations in high-quality trials are warranted.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42024558786.
Keywords: auricular acupoint therapy, functional gastrointestinal disorders, Systematic review, Meta-analysis, randomized controlled trials
Received: 18 Oct 2024; Accepted: 21 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, Li, Wang, Lou, Liu, Feng, Yang, Wang, Ying, Lin, Zhou and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jian-Nong Wu, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
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