Table 4.
The information of included protocols of systematic review.
| Study ID | Registration number | Included studies | Participant | Intervention | Comparison | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dong Z (2022)20 | CRD42021299482 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with recorded nasal congestion lasted for 1 week or more | Acupuncture with COVID-19 treatment | Comfort therapy or other therapies | The frequency of nasal congesture, duration of nasal congestion, the degree of nasal congestion, quality of life |
| Li X (2022)21 | INPLASY2021120104 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with abdominal pain lasting 2 weeks or longer | Moxibustion (direct moxibustion, separated moxibustion, moxibustion therapy, warm moxibustion, indirect moxibustion) with COVID-19 treatment | Other treatment without moxibustion | Abdominal pain frequency, abdominal pain intensity, duration of abdominal pain, duration of use of painkillers, quality of life, adverse events |
| Liu N (2022)22 | CRD42022302933 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with diarrhea lasting 4 weeks or longer | Moxibustion, herb partitioned moxibustion, moxibustion with amugwort stick, or ormoxa cone moxibustion with COVID-19 treatment | Comfort therapy or other therapies | The Bristol score, number of bowel movements, quality of life, associated symptoms of diarrhea, adverse events |
| Luo W (2022)23 | CRD42021265699 | RCT | COVID-19 patients suffering from headache and/or olfaction and/or taste disorders | Acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, or laser acupuncture with COVID-19 treatment | Comfort therapy or other therapies | Relevant indicators of headache, olfaction disorders, taste impairment, adverse events |
| Wang X (2022)24 | CRD42022302499 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with anorexia | Moxibustion therapies (including moxa stick moxibustion, moxa cone moxibustion, direct moxibustion, and indirect moxibustion) | NR | Effective rate of clinical symptoms, body weight, food intake on the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS total score), the incidence of nausea and adverse events |
| Sun M (2021)25 | CRD42021270722 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with headache of 4 weeks duration or longer | Acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, or laser acupuncture with COVID-19 treatment | Comfort therapy or other therapies | Headache frequency, headache intensity, duration of headache, times of using painkiller, quality of life, adverse events |
| Xia Q (2021)26 | CRD42020225245 | RCTs and credible clinical observations | Elderly patients (≥60 years) diagnosed with COVID-19 | Acupuncture, moxibustion, electroacupuncture, fire needle, warming needle moxibustion, acupoint injection or auricular therapy | Any method other than acupuncture | Mortality rate, cure rate, CRP, creatine, troponin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, improvements in chest CT scans, the disappearance time of clinical symptoms and the side effects |
| Zhou Y (2021)27 | CRD42021230364 | RCT | Patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19 convalescence | Moxibustion alone, or combined with other kinds of therapies | Other treatment without moxibustion | The time of disappearance of main symptoms, reexamination of chest X-ray, white blood cell count, associated symptoms disappear rate, negative COVID-19 results rate, quality of life, occurrence rate of common type to severe form, clinical cure rate, mortality, adverse events |
| Jia H (2020)28 | CRD42020190153 | RCTs and observational trials | COVID-19 patients with anxiety | Acupuncture and related interventions treatment | Sham acupuncture, routine care, or conventional therapy | Therapeutic effects, the adverse effects and adverse events, the safety of physicians |
| Chen Y (2020)29 | CRD42020180875 | RCT | COVID-19 patients | Acupuncture (combined with other treatments, such as routine therapy, etc.) | Other therapeutic approaches other than acupuncture | The influence of acupuncture on chest CT and nucleic acid detection of respiratory samples, accompanying symptoms |
| Chi W (2020)30 | CRD42020206889 | RCT | COVID-19 patients who use a ventilator during treatment | Acupuncture (combined with other treatments, such as respiratory rehabilitation training, routine therapy, etc.) | Other therapeutic approaches other than acupuncture | MIP, MEP, MIP/MEP, PaO2/FiO2, blood oxygen saturation, FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, Borg scale scores, adverse events, changes of patient's condition |
| Gao W (2020)31 | CRD42020199508 | RCTs and trials with 2-arm or 3-arm parallel design | Patients with headache induced by COVID-19 | Plum-blossom needle therapy | Western medicine therapy | The time and rate of appearance of headache, the length of hospital stay |
| Huang K (2020)32 | CRD42020189494 | RCTs and credible clinical observations | COVID-19 patients | Acupuncture therapy | Interventions including western medicine | Mortality rate, CRP, creatine, troponin, liver enzymes, blood pressure, clinical symptoms, serum cytokine levels, diverse events |
| Liu M (2020)33 | CRD42020193703 | RCTs and credible clinical observations | COVID-19 patients | Fire needle alone or combined with one or more other pharmacological intervention | Standard care, western medical therapies, Chinese medicine, etc. | Conversion rate from normal to severe, cure rate, mortality rate, Chest CT scans, nucleic acid detection of respiratory samples, accompanying symptoms disappear rate, cellular inflammation level, average hospitalization time, adverse reactions |
| Wang Z (2020)34 | CRD42020211910 | RCTs, non-RCTs, and clinical case reports | COVID-19 patients | moxibustion alone or combined with other kinds of therapies | Any kind of treatment without moxibustion | Total clinical effective rate, antipyretic time, cough duration, rhombus disappearance time, imaging transition time, serum CRP level after treatment |
| Wen D (2020)35 | CRD42020183736 | RCT | COVID-19 (≥16 years old) | Acupuncture therapy (including manual acupuncture, body acupuncture, electroacupuncture, plum blossom needle, warm needling, and fire needling) | Sham acupuncture, placebo, usual care, medication, no treatment, and other conventional therapies | Timing of the disappearance of the main symptoms, serum cytokine levels, timing of the disappearance of accompanying symptoms, negative COVID-19 results rates, CT image improvement, average hospitalization time, occurrence rate of common type to severe form, clinical cure rate, mortality |
| Wu L (2020)36 | CRD42020181336 | RCT | COVID-19 patients | The external treatment of TCM (such as, acupuncture, massage, etc.) | Treatments other than the external treatment of TCM | Efficacy, accompanying symptoms disappear rate, average hospitalization time, occurrence rate of common type to severe form, clinical cure rate, mortality |
| Zhang B (2020)37 | CRD42020182323 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with breathlessness | Acupuncture (combined with other treatments, such as routine therapy, etc.) | Other therapeutic approaches other than acupuncture | Visual analogue scale, numerical rating scale, the Borg Scale |
| Zhang Q (2020)38 | CRD42020185776 | RCT | COVID-19 patients | Acupuncture alone or moxibustion alone or both of the two treatments | Western medicine, placebo or regular treatment | The total clinical effective rate, antipyretic time, cough duration, rhombus disappearance time, imaging transition time, serum CRP after treatment, adverse events |
| Zhang Y (2020)39 | CRD42020202258 | RCT | COVID-19 patients with anxiety | Acupuncture (including warm acupuncture, electroacupuncture, scalp-acupuncture, hydroacupuncture, and manual acupuncture) | Any kinds of treatments except acupuncture | Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A), The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), (modified) Barthel index (MBI), side effect or adverse event |
CRP: C-reactive protein level; FEV1: forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FiO2: fraction of inspired oxygen; FVC: forced vital capacity; MEP: maximum expiratory pressure; MIP: maximum inspiratory pressure; NR: not reported; PaO2: arterial partial pressure of oxygen; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine.