Table 2.
Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of the study participants
| Author (year) | Study design | Country | Participants (% women) | Average age (year, Mean ± SD) (range) | Average disease duration (month, Mean ± SD) (range) | Most common site (%) | Outcome measures and overall results (positive + /negative-) | Serious adverse events | Dropout rate | Time points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pezelj-Ribaric et al., 2013 [36] | Randomized controlled trial | Croatia |
(1) LG: 20; (2) CG: 20 (67.5%) |
(1) LG: 60.2 ± 6.3; (2) CG: 61.1 ± 2.2 |
Not mentioned | Tongue |
(1) TNF-α and IL-6 + (2) Pain/burning (VAS) + |
Not mentioned | 0% |
Baseline 4 weeks |
| 2 | Spanemberg et al., 2015 [37] | Randomized controlled trial | Spain |
(1) LG1: 20 (2) LG2: 20 (3) RLG: 19 (4) CG: 19 (85.9%) |
62.82 ± 7.54 (45–79) | 6 or above (up to 30 years) |
Tongue (up to 90%) Lips (up to 50%) Palate (up to 42.1%) Other sides (up to 20%) |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS/VNS) + (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 10 weeks 8-week follow-up |
| 3 | Arbabi-Kalati et al., 2015 [26] | Randomized controlled trial | Iran |
LG: 10 CG: 10 (100%) |
(1) LG: 47.2 ± 5.3 (2) CG: 46.6 ± 4.6 |
(1) LG: 13.4 ± 7.4 (6–30) (2) CG: 15.5 ± 0.1 (6–36) |
Not mentioned |
(1) Pain/burning (NRS) + (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 2 weeks |
| 4 | Sugaya et al., 2016 [38] | Randomized controlled trial | Brazil |
(1) LG: 15 (2) CG: 15 (91.3%) |
(1) LG: 59.3 (29–83) (2) CG: 62.7 (53–81) |
(1) 25.5 (6–192) (2) 39.6 (6–180) |
Tongue Lower lip Upper lip Buccal mucosa Mandibular ridge Palate Mandibular gingiva |
Pain/burning (VAS) + | None | 23.33% |
Baseline 2 weeks 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90-day follow-ups |
| 5 | Valenzuela et al., 2016 [25] | Randomized controlled trial | Spain |
(1) LG: 16 (2) LG inf: 16 (3) CG: 12 (93.2%) |
65.5 ± 10.6 (33–88) | 6 or above | Not mentioned |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS) + (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + (3) Xerostomia severity (Xerostomia Inventory) - (1) Anxiety and depression (HADS) - (2) Overall patient satisfaction (PGI-I) - |
Not mentioned | 0% |
Baseline 4 weeks |
| 6 | Arduino et al., 2016 [22] | Randomized controlled trial | Italy |
(1) LG: 18 (2) CG: 15 (75.8%) |
67.12 ± 8.58 | 6 or above | Not mentioned |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS + /McGill + /PPI +) (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + (3) Salivary flow - (4) Anxiety and depression (HADS) + , (GDS) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 5 weeks 3, 8, and 12-month follow-ups |
| 7 | Sikora et al., 2018 [24] | Randomized controlled trial | Croatia |
(1) LG: 22 (2) CG: 22 (97.7%) |
67.56 (56–83) | Not mentioned | Not mentioned |
(1) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + (2) Pain/burning (VAS) + |
Not mentioned | 0% |
Baseline 2 weeks |
| 8 | Spanemberg et al., 2019 [39] | Randomized controlled trial | Spain |
(1) LG: 12 (1) CG: 9 (95.2%) |
(1) LG: 66.3 ± 7.52 (2) CG: 66.2 ± 6.31 (61–81) |
57.8 (8–130) |
Tongue (61.9%) Lips (52.4%) Palate (42.9%) Other sides (28.6%) |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS) + (1) Anxiety and depression (HADS) - |
None | 0% |
Baseline 8 weeks 2-month follow-up |
| 9 | Bardellini et al., 2019 [40] | Randomized controlled trial | Italy |
(1) LG: 45 (2) CG: 45 (100%) |
(1) LG: 59.76 ± 9.51 (39–74) (2) CG: 60.86 ± 10.02 (41–77) |
6 or above |
Tongue (76.5%) Lips (18.8%) Buccal mucosa (44.7%) Other sides (9.4%) |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS) + (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + |
Not mentioned | 5.6% |
Baseline 10 weeks 1-month follow-up |
| 10 | de Pedro et al., 2020 [20] | Randomized controlled trial | Spain |
(1) LG: 10 (2) CG: 10 (80%) |
(1) LG: 60.30 ± 15.19 (2) CG: 67.60 ± 10.68 |
Not mentioned |
Tongue (100%) Buccal mucosa (45%) Lips (30%) Hard palate (10%) |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS/McGill) + (2) Oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) + (3) General health status (SF-36) + (4) Drowsiness/sleepiness (ESS) + (5) Anxiety and depression (SCL 90-R) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 5 weeks 1 and 4-month follow-ups |
| 11 | Skrinjar et al., 2020 [23] | Randomized controlled trial | Croatia |
(1) LG: 12 (2) CG: 11 (86.9%) |
(1) LG: 61.5 (47–70) (2) CG: 62 (50–69) |
3 or above |
Tongue Lip Hard palate |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS) + (2) Salivary cortisol level + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 2 weeks |
| 12 | Barbosa et al., 2020 [27] | Randomized controlled trial | Brazil |
(1) LG: 10 (2) CG: 5 (60%) |
45 (40–52) | 12 (4–24) |
Tongue (66.7%) Lips (26.7%) Palate (20%) Cheek mucosa (20%) Alveolar ridge (13.3%) |
(1) Salivary flow + (2) TNF-α - (3) Pain/burning (VAS) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 4 weeks |
| 13 | Scardina et al., 2020 [41] | Randomized controlled trial | Italy |
(1) LG: 20; (2) CG: 20 (100%) |
62.06 ± 3.1 | Not mentioned |
Upper labial mucosa; Buccal mucosa Dorsal lingual surface Lower labial mucosa |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS/NRS) + (2) Capillary microcirculation (Oral videocapillaroscopy examination) + |
None | 0% |
Baseline 4 weeks 2-month follow-up |
| 14 | Sun et al., 2021 [12] | Randomized controlled trial | China |
(1) LG: 21 (2) CG: 21 (80.9%) |
(1) LG: 56.19 (2) CG: 47 (19–71) |
(1) LG: 11.8 (2) CG: 7.00 (2–60) |
Tongue (100%) |
(1) Pain/burning (VAS) + (2) Numbness (VAS) + (3) Alter taste (VAS) - |
None | 0% |
Baseline 4 weeks |
AG Acupuncture group, CG Control group, ESS Epworth Sleepiness Scale, GDS Geriatric Depression Scale, HADS Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, LG laser group, LG inf Infrared laser group, IL-6 Interleukin- 6, McGill McGill Pain Questionnaire, NRS Numeric Rating Scale, OHIP-14 Oral Health Impact Profile-14, PGI-I Patient Global Impression of Improvement, PPI Present pain intensity, RLG Red laser group, RG Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation group, SF-36 Short Form 36 Health Survey, SCL-90R Symptom Checklist 90, TNF-α Tumor necrosis factor-α, VAS Visual Analog Scale, VNS Visual numeric scale