Effectiveness of acupuncture in veterinary medicine: systematic review.
Abstract: Acupuncture is a popular complementary treatment option in human medicine. Increasingly, owners also seek acupuncture for their animals. The aim of the systematic review reported here was to summarize and assess the clinical evidence for or against the effectiveness of acupuncture in veterinary medicine. Systematic searches were conducted on Medline, Embase, Amed, Cinahl, Japana Centra Revuo Medicina and Chikusan Bunken Kensaku. Hand-searches included conference proceedings, bibliographies, and contact with experts and veterinary acupuncture associations. There were no restrictions regarding the language of publication. All controlled clinical trials testing acupuncture in any condition of domestic animals were included. Studies using laboratory animals were excluded. Titles and abstracts of identified articles were read, and hard copies were obtained. Inclusion and exclusion of studies, data extraction, and validation were performed independently by two reviewers. Methodologic quality was evaluated by means of the Jadad score. Fourteen randomized controlled trials and 17 nonrandomized controlled trials met our criteria and were, therefore, included. The methodologic quality of these trials was variable but, on average, was low. For cutaneous pain and diarrhea, encouraging evidence exists that warrants further investigation in rigorous trials. Single studies reported some positive intergroup differences for spinal cord injury, Cushing's syndrome, lung function, hepatitis, and rumen acidosis. These trials require independent replication. On the basis of the findings of this systematic review, there is no compelling evidence to recommend or reject acupuncture for any condition in domestic animals. Some encouraging data do exist that warrant further investigation in independent rigorous trials.
Publication Date: 2006-06-01 PubMed ID: 16734078DOI: 10.1892/0891-6640(2006)20[480:eoaivm]2.0.co;2Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Review
- Systematic Review
Summary
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This research paper reviews current scientific studies to assess whether acupuncture, a common complementary treatment in human medicine, is also effective for treating domestic animals.
Research Methodology
- The researchers conducted systematic searches across a range of scientific publication databases including Medline, Embase, Amed, Cinahl, Japana Centra Revuo Medicina, and Chikusan Bunken Kensaku. This allowed them to access a wide range of relevant studies.
- They also performed hand-searches of conference proceedings, bibliographies, and consulted with experts and veterinary acupuncture associations to ensure a holistic gathering of data.
- The review did not limit the language of publication, thereby encompassing global research into this area.
- The focus of the review was controlled clinical trials that tested acupuncture on any condition of domestic animals. They excluded studies involving laboratory animal trials.
- The researchers obtained hard copies of all identified articles, both titles, and abstracts where read, and the data was validated by two independent reviewers to ensure accuracy and objectivity.
- The methodological quality of each trial included in this review was evaluated using the Jadad score.
Results and Findings
- The authors reviewed 14 randomized controlled trials and 17 non-randomized controlled trials.
- The overall methodological quality of the trials was found to be variable, and on average, low. This suggests that the research designs or reporting quality of the studies was not of high standard, potentially limiting the reliability of their findings.
- For conditions such as cutaneous pain and diarrhea in animals, the researchers found encouraging evidence in support of the effectiveness of acupuncture. They recommend further investigation through rigorous trials.
- Positive outcomes were reported in single studies for a variety of conditions including spinal cord injury, Cushing’s syndrome, lung function, hepatitis, and rumen acidosis. The review suggests that these results need to be verified through independent replication before they can be considered conclusive.
Conclusions
- Based on the systematic review, the researchers concluded that there is no compelling evidence either to recommend or reject the use of acupuncture for any condition in domestic animals.
- While some promising data do exist, further investigation through independent rigorous trials is necessary to confirm the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating domestic animals.
Cite This Article
APA
Habacher G, Pittler MH, Ernst E.
(2006).
Effectiveness of acupuncture in veterinary medicine: systematic review.
J Vet Intern Med, 20(3), 480-488.
https://doi.org/10.1892/0891-6640(2006)20[480:eoaivm]2.0.co;2 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria.
MeSH Terms
- Acupuncture Analgesia / veterinary
- Acupuncture Therapy / veterinary
- Animals
- Cattle
- Dogs
- Horses
- Musculoskeletal Diseases / therapy
- Musculoskeletal Diseases / veterinary
- Pain / veterinary
- Pain Management
- Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
- Sheep
- Swine
- Veterinary Medicine
Citations
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