Meta-analysis of efficacy of the fire needle therapy combined with Chinese medicine compounds for acne

Objective Using meta-analysis to analyze the clinical efficacy of fire needling acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine compounds for acne. Methods Relevant literatures were searched from the following databases dated from inception to December 12, 2023: CNKI, Quanfang, Wanfang, VIP, Pubmed and CochraneLibrary. Only the publications that included randomized controlled studies on fire needling acupuncture combined with traditional Chinese medicine were included in the analysis. The quality of the studies was evaluated by two researchers according to the criteria of the Cochrane Manual of Systematic Reviewers, and the data were analyzed using Revman 5.4 software. Results A total of 20 qualified reports, including 1 889 cases (945 cases in the treated group and 944 cases in the controls), were included in the final analysis. The cure and effective rates were higher in the treatment group than in the controls［OR=4.62,95%CI: 3.28-6.51, P<0.001］. Conclusions Fire needle therapy combined with Chinese medicine compounds can improve the therapeutic efficacy for acne, with superior efficacy to the Traditional Chinese medicine alone.