SynthesisFrontiers in endocrinology2022
Comparative effectiveness of a low-calorie diet combined with acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy, meal replacements, or exercise for obesity over different intervention periods: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive Behavioral Interventions for Children and Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity: A Systematic Review and Component Network Meta-Analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative effectiveness of school-based obesity prevention programs for children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture ameliorates diet-induced obesity via the vagal-GLP-1-ARC circuit: neural mechanism of anorexigenic action.Chinese medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of electroacupuncture on anxiety in patients with obesity: a protocol for a randomised, blinded, sham-controlled trial.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Acupuncture-assisted lifestyle intervention improve the metabolic status and spontaneous brain activity of type 2 diabetes Mellitus patients: a randomized, clinical trial.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2024Article
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapies for Weight-Loss in Adults: A Scoping Review Protocol.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Acupuncture as multi-targeted therapy for the multifactorial disease obesity: a complex neuro-endocrine-immune interplay.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of a low-calorie diet (LCD) combined with acupuncture, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), meal replacements (MR), and exercise on weight loss. Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CNKI, RISS, and KISS were searched systematically. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that directly compared the effect of a low-calorie diet (LCD)-combined acupuncture, CBT, and exercise and an MR-based diet on weight loss with LCD-alone for adults with simple obesity (body mass index [BMI] > 25) published before August 2021 were included in the study. Two investigators extracted and coded the data using a template. Any disagreements between investigators were resolved through discussion. Changes in BMI or weight were transformed to Hedges' g values with a 95% CI, and network meta-analyses using a Bayesian random-effects model were conducted. Results: A total of thirty-two trials involving 3,364 patients were finally included in the study. The effect sizes of four interventions were medium, in the order of acupuncture (Hedges' g = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.25 - 0.71), CBT (Hedges' g = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.20 - 0.63), MR (Hedges' g = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.19 - 0.45), and exercise (Hedges' g = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.06 - 0.46).In terms of intervention period, acupuncture was effective in the short period (≤ 12 weeks, Hedges' g = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.12 - 0.67) and the long period (>12 weeks, Hedges' g = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.37 - 1.40), whereas CBT (Hedges' g = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.26 - 0.76) and exercise (Hedges' g = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.12 - 0.59) were effective only in the long period. MR was effective only in the short period (Hedges' g = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.18 - 0.53). Conclusions: This study suggests that acupuncture, CBT, MR, and exercise for simple obesity show a medium effect size, and their effectiveness differs according to the intervention period.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.