Acupuncture methods put to the test for a tinnitus study: A Bayesian analysis.

BACKGROUND

This study evaluated the effectiveness of different methods of acupuncture in the treatment of tinnitus due to neurological causes. In total, eight treatment methods were selected for this study: traditional acupuncture, electroacupuncture, moxibustion acupuncture, medicine only without acupuncture, traditional acupuncture with supplementary medicine, electroacupuncture with supplementary medicine, moxibustion acupuncture with supplementary medicine, and an electroacupuncture and moxibustion acupuncture combination. All sample data come from the results of clinical treatment studies.

METHODS

Both Chinese- and English-language online databases were searched. The Chinese language databases included the Wanfang database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, and the VIP Chinese Science and Technique Journals database. The English language databases included PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Library. After the previously mentioned eight interventions for the treatment of neurological tinnitus were tested in a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the data were extracted, and the effectiveness of each intervention was evaluated. A meta-analysis was performed using Stata14.0 and GeMTC 0.14.3 statistical software.

RESULTS

A total of 40 studies were included, which contained a total of 3657 patients and 8 intervention methods. There was a trend of greater effectiveness of moxibustion acupuncture, followed by moxibustion acupuncture combined with electroacupuncture, moxibustion acupuncture combined with supplementary medicine, acupuncture combined with drugs, electroacupuncture with supplementary medicine, electroacupuncture, traditional acupuncture, and medicine only without acupuncture. There was no significant difference between the results of indirect comparisons and direct comparisons.

CONCLUSIONS

Eight interventions are all effective in the treatment of neurological tinnitus, but moxibustion acupuncture seems to be a better trend treatment for tinnitus.