Background: One new type of acupuncture and related techniques (ACNRT) is increasingly used by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to control their disease and improve their quality of life. However, the efficacy of using ACNRT in combination with western medicine (WM) for this purpose remains unknown. Methods: Randomized controlled trials of ACNRT and WM treatments for RA from January 1, 2000, to January 31, 2021, were searched for in the databases PubMed, Embase, Medline, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, as well as in three Chinese databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and Airiti Library. The primary outcomes consisted of inflammatory markers including C reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and rheumatoid factor. The secondary outcomes were clinical characteristics including pain visual analog scale (VAS) score, Disease Activity Score (DAS-28), swollen joints count (SJC), tender joints count (TJC), morning stiffness, and the results of a health assessment questionnaire. The three types of ACNRT used in the focal trials were acupuncture, moxibustion, and electro-acupuncture. Two qualified researchers extracted data from these trials’ results and independently assessed their risk of bias. Statistical analyses were performed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V3 software. Results: A total of 12 RCTs with 874 patients met the inclusion criteria. As compared with the patients who received WM treatment alone, those who were given integrated ACNRT/WM treatment showed greater reductions in CRP (weighted mean difference [WMD]: −6.299; 95% CI: −9.082 to −3.517), ESR (WMD: −6.563; 95% CI: −8.604 to -4.522), VAS (WMD: −1.089; 95% CI: −1.575 to −0.602), DAS-28 (WMD: −0.633; 95% CI: −1.006 to −0.259), SJC (WMD: −1.921; 95% CI: −3.635 to −0.207), and TJC (WMD: −1.491; 95% CI: −2.941 to −0.042). Conclusion: This meta-analysis of RA provides reliable evidence in favor of ACNRT plus WM. However, longer term, high-quality, repeatable, multicenter randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are needed.

Objectives: Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a dynamic state wherein people have not been diagnosed with a disease but tend to develop diseases. People with SHS often experience fatigue and other nonspecific symptoms, which are related to a deviated body constitution in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). However, the correlation between TCM constitution and SHS has not been adequately investigated. Furthermore, no study has explored the radial pulse analysis—an assistive objective indicator of TCM constitution—in healthy people and people with SHS. Design: A cross-sectional study. Settings/Location: Center for Traditional Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Subjects: Sixty-six adults (27 healthy participants and 39 participants with SHS) who were aged 20–39 years. Outcome Measures: The body constitution questionnaire (BCQ) scores, suboptimal health status questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) scores, and radial pulse waves detected using sphygmography were recorded. Pulse wave analyses are presented as the ratio of frequency below 10 Hz to that above 10 Hz (SER10), which represent energy changes in organ blood flow. Results: Participants with SHS had significantly higher Yang-Xu, Yin-Xu, and stasis scores of BCQ compared with healthy participants. The SHSQ-25 scores of the participants with SHS were moderately correlated with their Yang-Xu, Yin-Xu, and stasis scores (r = 0.65, 0.66, and 0.72, respectively; all p < 0.001), but weak correlations were discovered for healthy participants. The participants with SHS had significantly higher SER10 at the left guan (the “liver” system in TCM) than did the healthy participants. Conclusions: SHS is moderately correlated with TCM-based constitution and those with SHS had increased SER10 at the leftguan of the radial pulse.

Purpose: To investigate the required sample size for and feasibility of a full-scale randomized controlled trial examining the impact of the “dose” effect of acupuncture in treating sciatica. Patients and methods: Fifty-seven patients with sciatica, aged 35–70 years, were recruited and screened. Thirty-one participants were randomly assigned to receive “low-dose” manual acupuncture (MAL) (n= 15) or “high-dose” manual acupuncture (MAH) (n=16). The acupuncture treatment was administered twice weekly for 4 weeks. The primary outcome was the visual analog scale (VAS) score at baseline and after 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment. Secondary outcomes included the Roland Disability Questionnaire for Sciatica (RDQS), the Sciatica Bothersomeness Index (SBI), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life in the Brief Edition (WHOQOL-BREF) scores at baseline and after 4 weeks of acupuncture treatment. Results: Thirty patients completed the study. For all patients, acupuncture achieved significant improvement in the VAS (5.48±2.0, p<0.001), RDQS (3.18±2.83, p=0.004), and SBI (2.85±3.23, p=0.008) scores, but not in the WHOQOL-BREF scores. In the between-group analysis, the assessed scales showed no significant differences between the MAL and MAH groups. However, based on the level of chronicity, the MAH group demonstrated greater improvement in the outcomes and a significant benefit in the physical subscale of the WHOQOL-BREF (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results of this pilot study indicate that acupuncture is safe and may effectively relieve symptoms and disability in patients with non-acute sciatica. MAL was as effective as MAH in treating sciatica. A subsequent trial with a larger sample size (estimated at n=96) is required to confirm whether patients with a high level of chronicity would benefit from MAH treatment. Trial registration: NCT03489681.

Background: The symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) such as hyposmia, rhinorrhea, nasal obstruction, and cough are similar to those of chronic allergic rhinitis (AR). Such symptoms can easily lead AR patients to unnecessary anxiety, misdiagnosis, and invasive diagnostic tests in the COVID-19 pandemic. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an important mediator for chronic AR and plays a crucial role in the inflammation of COVID-19. Houttuynia cordata (HC) has been shown to reduce nasal congestion and swelling by suppressing the activation of IL-6 and is used to fight COVID-19. A novel HC-based Chinese herbal formula, Zheng-Yi-Fang (ZYF), was developed to test effects on nasal symptoms of patients with AR in the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants aged between 20 and 60 years with at least a 2-year history of moderate to severe perennial AR were enrolled. Eligible participants were randomly allocated to either the intervention group (taking ZYF) or the control group (using regular western medicine) for 4 weeks. The Chinese version of the Rhinosinusitis Outcome Measures was used to evaluate impacts on quality of life and nasal symptoms of participants with AR. In addition, the effect of ZYF on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced IL-6 was investigated. Results: Participants with AR taking ZYF improved their symptoms of nasal obstruction, nasal secretion, hyposmia, and postnasal drip in comparison with those of the control group. Meanwhile, ZYF exhibited inhibition of IL-6 secretion in the LPS-induced inflammatory model. Conclusion: ZYF has potential effects to relieve nasal symptoms for AR during the COVID-19 pandemic.