SynthesisFrontiers in medicine2026
Efficacy of Mongolian medicines warm acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers 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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Who cites it
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objective: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of Mongolian medicines warm acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: Eight databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), PubMed, the Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and EMBASE, were searched from their inception to 31 December 2025 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating Mongolian medicines warm acupuncture for KOA. The primary outcome was the clinical response rate (CR), whereas the secondary outcomes included the visual analog scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias 2 (RoB 2) tool. Pooled effect sizes were calculated using RevMan 5.4 with fixed- or random-effects models. The certainty of evidence was graded using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. The protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD420261362311). Results: A total of 10 RCTs ( Conclusion: Mongolian medicines warm acupuncture is effective in improving the clinical response rate and reducing pain in KOA when used as an alternative to oral medications. However, evidence from add-on design trials remains inconclusive due to the limited number of studies. High-quality, large-scale add-on RCTs are warranted. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/myprospero, Unique Identifier CRD420261362311.
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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.