Current state of research about Acupuncture for the treatment of COVID-19: a scoping review

Chen, Chen; Zhan, Jie; Wen, Hao; Wei, Xiaojing; Ding, Lu; Tao, Chenyang; Li, Cui; Zhang, Peiming; Tang, Yuyuan; Lu, Liming; Zeng, Jingchun

BACKGROUND: : Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of COVID-19. The research community has responded rapidly and have already been published many research articles about this topic. METHODS: : We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library as well as CNKI, Wanfang and VIP from 1 January 2020 to 31 July 2021. The dates of publication, language of publication, methodological characteristics and the key findings were analyzed separately. The data were presented by bar graphs, structured tables and figures. RESULTS: : In this scoping review, 16 research articles were included: 7 case reports, 6 observational studies, 1 review, 1 RCT and 1 nonrandomized clinical trial. The majority of the articles (81.3%) were published by Chinese scholars whereas 12.5% articles were from scholars in United States and 6.3% articles were from scholars in Iran. Included studies uncovered that acupuncture can alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19 patients, shorten the hospitalization days, and is effective for the elderly. There are no side effects reported. The most frequently acupoints were used are LI4, PC6, ST36 and KI3. Finally, there are many obstacles in implementing acupuncture therapy in treating COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSION: : Acupuncture has a good effect in the treatment of COVID-19, but still lacks high-quality evidence support. Coupled with the difficulties that acupuncturists faced in the process of treatment, the promotion of acupuncture treatment of COVID-19 still faces many obstacles.