Acupuncture for Mild-to-Moderate Essential Hypertension:A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture versus anti-hypertensive western medicine for mild-to-moderate essential hypertension by Meta-analysis.Methods: Randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of acupuncture versus anti-hypertensive western medicine in the treatment of mild-to-moderate essential hypertension were searched.Qualified researches were selected and evaluated.The RevMan5.1 software was used for meta-analyses.Results: 10 trials involving 782 patients were included.The results of meta-analyses showed that:(1) acupuncture was similar to western medicine in anti-hypertensive effect;(2) there were significant differences between acupuncture plus western medicine versus western medicine in anti-hypertensive effect,indicating the effect of acupuncture plus western medicine is superior to western medicine alone.Total effect rate of both acupuncture alone or acupuncture plus western medicine were higher than western medicine in improving symptoms.No adverse events were reported in included RCTs.Conclusions: Acupuncture is safe and effective for mild-to-moderate essential hypertension.However,due to low quality of included studies,rigorously designed RCTs are needed to confirm the conclusions.