Table 2.

Details of the auricular acupuncture method.

Study ID	Acupoints	Location of points used	Material	Material replacement period	Frequency and duration of self-acupressure	Treatment period	Follow-up assessment
AA vs WM
Chen et al. 2009 [22]	Shen men, brain, kidney, occiput	bilateral	Vaccaria seeds	Once a day	5 times/day,  5 minutes/session	12 weeks	NR
Kuang et al. 2012 [23]	Forehead, subcortex, temple	unilateral	Vaccaria seeds	Once every 2 days	3 times/day	12 weeks	NR
Shi 2011 [24]	Brain, kidney, heart, spleen	bilateral	Vaccaria seeds	Once every 3 days	3 times/day	12 weeks	12 weeks
AA + WM vs WM
Ai 2013 [25]	Shen men, brain, kidney, heart	bilateral	Vaccaria seeds	Once a day	5 times/day,  5 minutes/session	3 months	NR
Liu 2016 [26]	Shen men, brain, kidney, heart, forehead, subcortex	bilateral	Vaccaria seeds	2-3 times/week	NR	12 months	NR
Rodríguez-Mansilla et al. 2015 [27]	Shen men, heart	NR	Vaccaria seeds	Every 15 days	NR	3 months	2 months
AA + HM vs HM
Chen et al. 2013 [28]	Shen men, kidney, heart, forehead, subcortex	NR	Vaccaria seeds	NR	2 times/day,  1-2 minutes/session	3 months	NR
X. Lu and S. Lu 2008 [29]	Shen men, kidney, heart, forehead, subcortex, etc.	NR	NR	NR	NR	45 days	NR
Xiao et al. 2014 [30]	Shen men, brain, kidney, heart, spleen	NR	NR	NR	3 times/day,  3 minutes/session	6 months	NR

AA: auricular acupressure; HM: herbal medicine; NR: not recorded; WM: Western medication.