Efficacy of Electroacupuncture in Animal Hyperlipidemia Models:A Meta-analysis

Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture in animal hyperlipidemia models. Methods Databases such as CNKI,Wan Fang Data,VIP,CBM,Pub Med,EMbase and The Cochrane Library(Issue 12,2013) were searched for studies concerning the efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture in animal hyperlipidemia models up to December 2013. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies by using reformative CAMARADES List. Then,meta-analysis was performed by using Rev Man 5.2 software. Results A total of 4 studies involving 89 rats were included. The average score of CAMARADES List was 4. The results of metaanalysis showed that: there were no significant differences between electroacupuncture group and medication group in reducing the levels of TC(MD=0.06,95%CI –0.08 to 0.20,P=0.40),TG(MD= –0.01,95%CI –0.08 to 0.06,P=0.74),LDL-C(MD=0.01,95%CI –0.04 to 0.03,P=0.65) and increasing the level of HDL-C(MD= –0.00,95%CI –0.09 to 0.08,P=0.93). Conclusion Current evidence shows that there are no differences between electroacupuncture and medication in reducing levels of TC,TG,LDL-C and increasing the level of HDL-C in hyperlipidaemia rats. But due to the limitation of sample size of included studies,more large-scale,high quality studies are needed.