A meta-analysis of the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture intervention in gastrointestinal function after gynecilogical and obstetrical operations

Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture intervention in gastrointestinal function after gynecilogical and obstetrical operations. Methods Databases of SinoMed (1997-2017), VIP (1997-2017), Wanfang (1997-2017), CNKI (2007-2017), PubMed (1997-2017) and Cochrane Library (2017 fourth) were searched by computers (supplemented by manual searching). The randomized controlled trials were included on the gastrointestinal function recovery after acupuncture intervention in gynecilogical and obstetrical operations. The data were extracted independently and cross-checked by two evaluators. Then the quality was evaluated according to the Cochrane system assessor manual 4.2.8, and RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. Results A total of 1 192 patients were included in 14 randomized controlled trials. Meta-analysis showed that the effective rate [OR=6.09, 95% CI (2.91, 12.75), P<0.01], the time to first passage of feces [MD=-14.72, 95% CI(-16.00, -13.44), P<0.01], the time to first bowel motion [MD=-8.81, 95% CI (-10.34, -7.28), P<0.01] and the time to first flatus [MD=-11.84, 95% CI (-15.31, -8.36), P<0.01] in the acupuncture group were higher than those in control group. Conclusions Acupuncture intervention in gynecilogical and obstetrical operations was safe and effective for gastrointestinal function recovery of patients. However, the above conclusions are required to have further validation with more highly qualified randomized controlled trials for the limited number of literature and the low quality of some studies. Key words: Acupuncture; Postoperative period; Gynecologic surgical procedures; Obstetric surgical procedures; Gastrointestinal function; Systematic review; Meta-analysis