Efficacy of Acupuncture in Children with Nocturnal Enuresis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

TL;DR

This study reviews and analyzes the effectiveness of acupuncture for treating bedwetting in children and adolescents.

Contribution

The paper provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture's efficacy for nocturnal enuresis in children.

Findings

Acupuncture therapy showed better clinical efficacy compared to placebo or pharmacological treatment.

The study found low methodological quality in the included trials.

No adverse events from acupuncture therapy were documented in the reviewed studies.

Abstract

Background. Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is recognized as a widespread health problem in young children and adolescents. Clinical researches about acupuncture therapy for nocturnal enuresis are increasing, while systematic reviews assessing the efficacy of acupuncture therapy are still lacking. Objective. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy for nocturnal enuresis. Materials and Methods. A comprehensive literature search of 8 databases was performed up to June 2014; randomized controlled trials which compared acupuncture therapy and placebo treatment or pharmacological therapy were identified. A meta-analysis was conducted. Results. This review included 21 RCTs and a total of 1590 subjects. The overall methodological qualities were low. The results of meta-analysis showed that acupuncture therapy was more effective for clinical efficacy when compared with placebo or pharmacological treatment. Adverse events associated with acupuncture therapy were not documented. Conclusion. Based on the findings of this study, we cautiously suggest that acupuncture therapy could improve the clinical efficacy. However, the beneficial effect of acupuncture might be overstated due to low methodological qualities. Rigorous high quality RCTs are urgently needed.

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