SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Ophthalmology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1584296
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in: Ophthalmology 2024View all 7 articles
Meta-analysis of acupuncture combined therapies for amblyopia: efficacy and safety insights
Provisionally accepted- 1School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
- 2Acupuncture-Tuina-Rehabilitation Department, The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
- 3Quzhou Hospital Ophthalmology Center, Zhejiang Medical and Health University, Quzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine therapy, is widely used for the management of amblyopia. This study aimed to perform a meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with conventional treatments for amblyopia.Methods: We searched eight databases for relevant studies published before December 31, 2024. Subsequently, the retrieved literature underwent a rigorous screening process based on pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thereafter, the basic information, outcome data, and risk of bias of the included studies were statistically analyzed. RevMan5.3 was employed to perform meta-analysis, sensitivity analysis, and assessment of publication bias. Additionally, GRADEpro3.6 was utilized to assess the quality of evidence for the outcomes.Results: Ten trials involving 918 eyes were included. The meta-analysis demonstrated that, compared with to the conventional treatment, the acupuncture combined with conventional treatment significantly improved the clinical efficacy rate (relative risk [RR] 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21 to 1.43, P < 0.00001, GRADE: low), the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (mean difference [MD] 0.08, 95%CI 0.01 to 0.15, P = 0.03, GRADE: very low), and the amplitude of pattern visual evoked potential (P-VEP) P100 wave (MD 3.24, 95%CI 1.42 to 5.05, P = 0.0005, GRADE: low), while reduced the stereoacuity (MD -3.59, 95%CI -5.97 to 1.20, P = 0.003, GRADE: very low) and the latency of P-VEP P100 wave (MD -7.44, 95%CI -11.71 to -3.18, P = 0.0006, GRADE: very low). However, acupuncture may increase the adverse reaction rate (RR 5.57, 95%CI 1.01 to 30.84, P = 0.05, GRADE: low). Funnel plots indicated no publication bias in the clinical efficacy rate, latency of P-VEP P100 wave, amplitude of P-VEP P100 wave, or adverse events. Nevertheless, potential publication bias was detected for BCVA and stereoacuity.Conclusion: Compared to conventional treatment, acupuncture combined with conventional treatment effectively improved visual acuity in amblyopia patients, although it may increase the risk of adverse events. Considering that these adverse events are mild, acupuncture still has the potential to serve as a complementary treatment for amblyopia. However, these findings need to be further validated through large-scale and high-quality studies.
Keywords: Acupuncture, Amblyopia, Meta-analysis, Systematic review, efficacy, Safety
Received: 27 Feb 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tan, Yu, Liu, Jiang, Liu, Lou and Peng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Kang Tan, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
Bidan Lou, Acupuncture-Tuina-Rehabilitation Department, The First Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
Qinghua Peng, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.