Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis of Acupuncture for Stroke, 120 RCTs

Zixin Teng's systematic review and network meta-analysis, published on figshare in 2026, evaluates the comparative effectiveness of six acupuncture therapies for stroke rehabilitation. The analysis synthesizes results from 120 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 15,848 participants conducted between 2016 and 2025. Primary outcomes measured include NIHSS, BI, mRS, MoCA, and MMSE scores.

Use Cases

• Ranking acupuncture modalities for neurological recovery based on NIHSS and BI score improvements.
• Comparing intervention efficacy for cognitive function using MoCA and MMSE outcome data.
• Conducting secondary statistical analysis on the network meta-analysis results for stroke rehabilitation.
• Training models to predict optimal therapies for specific post-stroke deficits based on the efficacy profiles.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 120 randomized controlled trials, providing a substantial evidence base.
• Includes data from 15,848 participants, offering a considerable sample size.
• Uses specific clinical outcome measures (NIHSS, BI, mRS, MoCA, MMSE) for comparative evaluation.
• Has a registered systematic review protocol (PROSPERO CRD42025112036).

Limitations

• The dataset is a 41.3 KB PDF report; the underlying tabular data from the meta-analysis is not directly accessible.
• All included studies originated from China, which may limit the generalizability of findings to other populations.
• Column-level documentation for any underlying data is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the report.

Provenance

Source

Zixin Teng via figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review and frequentist network meta-analysis of RCTs using Stata 17.0.

Time Range

Studies published between 2016 and 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 05:21:29.

Geography

Studies included were exclusively from China.