Table 1.
Characteristics of included SRs.
| First author and year of publication | Included study design | No. of study | No. of patient | Diagnostic criteria | Intervention | Comparator | Outcomes | Assessment of methodological quality | Meta-analysis conducted? | Subgroup analysis conducted? | Sensitivity analysis conducted? | Safety |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gao (2011) | RCT | 12 | 1744 | IHS; ICHD-10 | Acupuncture | Sham acupuncture | Effective rate; headache days | Jadad scale | Yes | Yes | No | NR |
| Zheng (2012) | RCT | 33 | 3593 | NR | Acupuncture | Herbs; sham acupuncture | Effective rate | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | No | NR |
| Chen (2014) | RCT | 18 | 1672 | IHS | Acupuncture | Medications (flunarizine, ibuprofen, nimodipine, naproxen, ergotamine caffeine); herbs | Effective rate; headache frequency; headache intensity and duration; accompanying symptoms | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yang (2014) | RCT | 10 | 893 | NR | Acupuncture | Flunarizine | Short-term effect; long-term effect; headache score | NR | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Zhao (2014) | RCT | 17 | 1719 | NR | EA | Medications | Effective rate; VAS | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Dai (2015) | RCT | 2 | 140 | IHS | Acupuncture | Medications (flunarizine, nimodipine) | Cure rate; effective rate | Jadad scale | Yes | No | No | NR |
| Yang (2015) | RCT | 10 | 997 | IHS | Acupuncture | Sham acupuncture | Effective rate; headache intensity; headache frequency; headache duration; medication use; accompanying symptoms | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Linde (2016) | RCT | 22 | 4985 | IHS | Acupuncture | Sham interventions; medications (metoprolol, flunarizine, valproic acid); waiting list | Headache frequency; the proportion of “responders” | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | No | NR |
| Pu J (2016) | RCT | 5 | 618 | NR | Acupuncture | Sham acupuncture | VAS | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | No | No | No |
| Pu (2016) | RCT | 7 | 1285 | IHS | Acupuncture | Medications (flunarizine, valproate, topiramate, metoprolol) | Effective rate; headache frequency; headache intensity; medication use | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Song (2016) | RCT | 18 | 1470 | IHS; ICHD | Acupuncture; EA | Medications (flunarizine, ibuprofen, nimodipine, metoprolol); placebo | Long-term effective rate; short-term effective rate; headache days | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Xian (2016) | RCT | 26 | 3657 | IHS; ICHD | Acupuncture | Sham acupuncture; medications (flunarizine, sodium valproate, metoprolol, topiramate, nimodipine) | Effective rate; headache frequency; VAS; medication use; PDI; MIDAS; PF-SF36; MH-SF36 | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Zhao (2016) | RCT | 18 | 1268 | IHS | Acupuncture; auricular acupuncture; EA | Medications (celecoxib, flunarizine, aspirin, ibuprofen, somedon); herbs | Effective rate; VAS; headache intensity; headache frequency | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Xu (2018) | RCT | 14 | 1155 | ICHD | Acupuncture; EA | Medications (ergotamine, ibuprofen, flunarizine, nimodipine); sham acupuncture | Frequency of migraine attacks; number of migraine days; VAS; effective rate | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Lu (2019) | RCT | 17 | 2226 | ICHD-3 | Acupuncture; EA | Sham acupuncture; medications (ergotamine, flunarizine, nimodipine) | Frequency of migraine attacks; duration of migraine; headache intensity | Cochrane risk of bias tool | Yes | Yes | Yes | NR |
IHS = International Headache Society; ICHD = International Classification of Headache Disorders; NR = no report; AA = auricular acupuncture; EA = electro-acupuncture; acupuncture = classical manual acupuncture; VAS = Visual Analogue Scale/Score; PDI = Pain Disability Index; MIDAS = the Migraine Disability Assessment; SF-36/12 = Short Form 36/12 Questionnaire.