Table 1.
Characteristics of included SRs
| Author, year (country) |
Trials (subjects) | Patient diagnosis | Intervention | Comparator | Outcomes | Main results | Quality assessment | Meta-analysis | AMSTAR2 | ROBIS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen (2012) (China) | 21(1961) | AP | MA, MA + M | M | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Adverse effect |
Bothe acupuncture and acupuncture combined with conventional drugs relieved angina symptoms and improved ECG. | Cochrane ROB | Yes | CL |  |
| Wang (2012) (China) | 6(386) | AP | MA + CM + M, MA + M, EA + CM |
CM + M, CM | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Adverse effect |
Acupuncture combined with TCM group was significantly better than TCM group in improving angina pectoris symptoms and ECG. | Cochrane ROB | Yes | CL |  |
| Yu (2015) (China) |
25(2058) | AP, SAP, UAP | MA, MA + M, MA + CM, EA, EA + M, EA + CM |
SA; M; CM | Angina relief; ECG improvement; Adverse effect |
The number of patients with ineffectiveness of angina relief and ECG improvement was less in the combined acupuncture group than in the anti-angina medicines alone group. | Cochrane ROB | Yes | CL | |
| Li (2015) (China) | 3(244) | AP | MA | CM | Effective rate | Acupuncture is an effective therapy in treating angina pectoris | Jadad scale | Yes | CL | |
| Zhang (2015) (China) | 8(640) | SAP | MA, EA, ATCM | M; CM | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Effective rate; Nitroglycerin use; Adverse effect |
acupuncture significantly increased the clinical curative effects in the relief of angina symptoms and improved the ECG | Unclear | Yes | CL | |
| Zhang (2015) (China) | 11(1232) | AP | A + M | M, SA + M | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Nitroglycerin use; Ischemia time of Holter |
Based on regular western medicine, acupuncture can further improve symptoms of angina and ECG, and reduce the dosage of nitroglycerin | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Shao (2016) (China) | 12(1006) | CHD | EA + M | M | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Effective rate; Nitroglycerin use; Adverse effect | Electroacupuncture can effectively improve the clinical symptoms and ECG, decrease the dosage of nitroglycerin | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Li (2017) (China) | 7(465) | UAP | MA + M | M | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; Ischemia time of Holter |
Acupuncture combined with routine medicine is better in relieving angina syndrome, improving ECG, and reducing the duration of myocardial ischemia in Holter. | Jadad scale | Yes | CL | |
| Zhou (2018) (China) | 4(245) | SAP | MA + M | M | Angina attack frequency; ECG improvement; Effective rate; Nitroglycerin use; 6MWT |
Acupuncture combined medicine can improve the treatment efficiency, the ECG, reduce the frequency of angina and nitroglycerin consumption. There were no significant changes between two groups in 6-MWT. | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Bu (2018) (China) | 21(1774) | AP | MA + M, EA + M |
M | Angina symptoms relief; ECG improvement; 6MWT Ischemia time of Holter; Angina attack time; Angina intensity; Adverse effect |
Acupuncture combined with medicine can reduce the symptoms of angina pectoris, reduce the number of episodes of angina pectoris | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Sun (2019) (China) | 7(621) | AP | MA, MA + M, MA + CM | M, CM | Effective rate | Acupuncture can improve the clinical symptoms in patients with CHD | Unclear | Yes | CL | |
| Yang (2019) (China) | 17(1516) | SAP | MA, EA, MA + CM |
SA, M, CM | Angina attack frequency; ECG improvement; 6MWT; Angina pain intensity; Adverse effect; Effective rate | Acupuncture was associated with reduced angina attack frequency. No significant improvement was shown in nitro-glycerin use or angina intensity. | Cochrane criteria | Yes | L | |
| Huang (2019) (China) | 24(1916) | AP | MA + M, MA + CM |
M, CM | Markedly effective rate; Moderately effective rate | Patients who received adjunctive acupuncture treatment had a significantly increased markedly effective rate. | Jadad scale | Yes | CL | |
| Ma (2020) (China) | 7(846) | SAP | MA + M | M | Angina attack frequency; Angina pain intensity; | The number of attacks in patients with angina and the degree of pain in acupuncture group were reduced more than that in the control group. | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Tu (2021) (China) |
7(893) | CSAP | MA, EA | SA, SC | Angina attack frequency; Angina pain intensity; Adverse effect |
Acupuncture combined with standard care was more effective in reducing angina attack frequency and angina pain intensity than sham acupuncture with standard care and standard care alone. | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
| Song (2021) (China) |
13(1708) | CSAP | EA | Waiting treatment | Angina attack frequency; angina pain intensity; Adverse effect; Nitroglycerin use | Acupuncture group was superior to the waiting treatment group in reducing the attack frequency and alleviating pain of angina. | Cochrane criteria | Yes | CL | |
AMSTAR2: A Measurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews 2; AP: angina pectoris; ATCM: Acupuncture-based Traditional Chinese Medicine; CHD: coronary heart disease; CL: critically low; CM: Chinese medicines; CSAP: chronic stable angina pectoris; EA: electroacupuncture; L: Low; M: Medications; MA: manual acupuncture; ROBIS: Risk of Bias in Systematic reviews; SA: Sham acupuncture; SAP: stable angina pectoris; SC: standard care group; UAP: unstable angina pectoris; VAS: Visual Analogue Scale; 6MWT: 6cminute walk test;
= Low risk; = High risk;