SynthesisMedicine2026
The efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of gastric ulcer: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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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.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThis study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of gastric ulcers (GU) through a meta-analysis.
methodsA comprehensive search was conducted in Chinese databases (CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang) and international databases (PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) to identify available randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published from the inception of each database through January 2025. The primary outcomes considered included overall efficacy rate, Helicobacter pylori (Hp) eradication rate, recurrence rate, gastrin levels, and adverse events. The quality of each included study was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool, and data were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software.
resultsA total of 1288 articles were initially identified, of which 17 RCTs involving 1632 patients were ultimately included. The meta-analysis demonstrated that acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine was superior to non-acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine in terms of clinical efficacy (OR = 4.83, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 3.36-6.93, P < .00001), Hp eradication rate (OR = 3.94, 95% CI = 2.35-6.6, P < .00001), recurrence rate (OR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.1-0.35, P < .00001), and gastrin levels (MD = -18.39, 95% CI = -20.68 to -16.11, P < .00001). Due to the small sample size and low quality of the RCTs included, the overall certainty of the evidence is low.
conclusionCompared with the control intervention measures, acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine therapy may be an effective complementary therapy for treating GU. It has shown good clinical efficacy, significantly improving the eradication rate of Hp, gastrin levels, and having a relatively low recurrence rate. No increase in adverse events has been reported, suggesting a favorable safety profile in clinical practice. However, further high-quality, large-scale studies are needed to confirm these results.
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