A Scoping Review on Clinical Research of Acupuncture Treatment for Pressure Injury.

Abstract

Objective: Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical therapy that has shown effective results in the treatment of pressure injuries (PI). However, current clinical research methodologies have certain flaws that impact the evaluation of efficacy. This review aims to summarize the characteristics of existing clinical studies on acupuncture treatment for PI and analyze the current research status. Methods: Following the research methodology for scoping reviews, databases, including CNKI, Wanfang Data, China Biology Medicine, Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library, were searched. The search period covered from the inception of the databases up to February 22, 2024. The studies included were screened, summarized, and analyzed, extracting data from three aspects as follows: bibliometric data, patient information, and research design. Results: A total of 46 clinical studies were included. These comprised 30 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 11 case series, 2 case reports, and 3 controlled clinical trials. Filiform needle therapy was the most commonly used acupuncture technique. Acupuncture is basically performed locally on the wound surface. The clinical efficacy rate was the most frequently used outcome measure. Conclusions: Clinical studies on acupuncture for PI have issues such as nonstandard selection and reporting of outcomes, inconsistent indicator evaluation tools, and unclear concept of "randomization" in RCTs. These factors lead to significant heterogeneity among studies, affecting the assessment of treatment efficacy. Future research should strictly standardize the design and reporting of RCTs and promote the establishment of core outcome sets for acupuncture treatment of PI, to enhance the evidence quality of acupuncture clinical research.