Skip to main content

Table 2 Characteristics of included studies (other kinds of interventions)

From: Optimizing acupuncture treatment for dry eye syndrome: a systematic review

First author

Year

Site

Sample sizea

Age

Gender (M/F)

Regime (intervention/control group)

Regime (frequency & duration)

Outcomes

Shin [26]

2010

Korea

42 (21/21)

41.6

11/31

Intervention: manual acupuncture GV23, BL2, BL14, TE23, Ex-HN5, ST-1, GB20, SP3, LU9, LU10, HT8

Control: non-acupoints around same site

Needles were retained for 20 min, 3 times a week for a total of 9 times. It takes 3 weeks to complete the treatment.

BUT, SIT, VAS, OSDI

Liu [27]

2012

China

39 (20/19)

32

21/19

Intervention: electro-acupuncture with BL1, Ex-HN5, BL2, TE23, GB1, GB20, KI3, SP6, LR3

Control: Artificial tears

Everyday treatment group undergoes electroacupuncture for 30 min. For a total of 20 sessions.

SIT, BUT

Guo [28]

2013

China

47 (23/24)

52

7/40

Intervention: electro-acupuncture with shang-jingming (Ex), xia-jingming (Ex), GB1, BL2, GB20, LI4, SP6, KI3, LR3

Control: manual acupuncture with the same acupoints

Needles were retained for 20 min, 3 times a week for a total of 12 times. It takes 4 weeks to complete the treatment.

BUT, SIT, VAS

Gao [29]

2016

China

88 (44/44)

41.8

33/55

A: pyonex combined with acupuncture, SP6, ST36, PC6, LR3 are the main points, and pattern identification was done (BL13, LI4 OR BL20, ST40 OR BL18, BL23)

B: manual acupuncture with GV20, ST1, BL2, GB20, Ex-HN5, TE23

A: pyonex was embedded for 3 days. The follwing day, it was embedded again. This process was repeated four times and followed by two days free from embedment. After that, another four courses of embedment were conducted.

B: needles were retained for 30 min every day for 12 days. Two days rest were followed by another 12 days of treatment.

SIT BUT, total score

Wu [30]

2016

China

40 (20/20)

44.2

10/30

Intervention: BL2, ST2, Ex-HN5

Control: artificial tears

Treatment group undergoes embedding therapy (retained for 24 h) on alternate days for 7 sessions.

BUT, SIT, OSDI

  1. M/F male/female, ST Schirmer’s test, BUT break-up time, OSDI ocular surface disease index, a questionnaire
  2. aTotal sample size (number in intervention group/number in control group)