Review Acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review

The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the available evidence, from randomized clinical trials (RCTs), of acupuncture for treating patients with RA. Systematic searches were conducted on 17 databases up to April 2008 without the language restriction. All RCTs of acupuncture, with or without electrical stimulation or moxibustion, for patients with RA were considered for inclusion. A total of 236 potentially relevant studies were identified and eight RCTs were included. Four RCTs compared the effects of manual or electro-acupuncture with penetrating or non-penetrating sham acupuncture and failed to show specific effects of acupuncture on pain [n 88; weighted mea