Efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with western medicine for anxiety: A systematic review protocol

Exploring the role of personal quantification in alleviating generalized anxiety disorder among Chinese PhD students: A cross-sectional study

Personal quantification plays a crucial role in preserving individual mental health. However, in previous research, its effectiveness in alleviating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has not been conclusively established. This study explores the impact of personal quantification on GAD among PhD students. The research data was obtained through questionnaires distributed to 308 PhD students across universities in China. Among these students, 118 anxiety-free participants were excluded, yielding valuable data from 190 students with GADs. We employed Python programming language and SPSS software for the empirical analysis. The results illustrated that personal quantification significantly and negatively impacted GAD (β = -0.148, P = .002), concurrently producing a significantly positive effect on self-efficacy (β = 0.359, P < .001). Further analysis showed that through 5000 sampling iterations and a 95% confidence level, self-efficacy significantly reduced certain symptoms of GAD (β = -0.1183; P = .026; 95% Cl: -0.2222 to -0.0144). Moreover, when the coefficient of self-efficacy was significantly negative, the impact of personal quantification on GAD remained statistically significant (β = -0.1056; P = .033; 95% Cl: -0.2025 to -0.0087). The findings indicated that personal quantification has a significant role in alleviating GAD among PhD students, which is partly mediated through self-efficacy. This study contributes valuable insights to the nonpharmacological alleviation of GAD in Chinese PhD students.

Efficacy and safety of transcutaneous electrical acupoints stimulation for preoperative anxiety in thoracoscopic surgery: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Preoperative anxiety occurs at a very high rate in patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). Moreover, it will result in poor mental state, more analgesic consumptions, rehabilitation delay and extra hospitalisation costs. Transcutaneous electrical acupoints stimulation (TEAS) is a convenient intervention for pain control and anxiety reduction. Nevertheless, TEAS efficacy of preoperative anxiety in VATS is unknown.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This single-centre randomised sham-controlled trial will be conducted in cardiothoracic surgery department of the Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in China. A total of 92 eligible participants with pulmonary nodules (size ≥8 mm) who are arranged for VATS will be randomly assigned to a TEAS group and a sham TEAS (STEAS) group in a 1:1 ratio. Daily TEAS/STEAS intervention will be administered starting on 3 days before the VATS and continued once per day for three consecutive days. The primary outcome will be the generalised anxiety disorder scale score change between the day before surgery with the baseline. The secondary outcomes will include serum concentrations of 5-hydroxytryptamine, norepinephrine and gamma-aminobutyric acid, intraoperative anaesthetic consumption, time to postoperative chest tube removal, postoperative pain, and length of postoperative hospital stay. The adverse events will be recorded for safety evaluation. All data in this trial will be analysed by the SPSS V.21.0 statistical software package.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval number: 2021-023). The results of this study will be distributed through peer-reviewed journals.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT04895852.

The Application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Infertility

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a lifelong reproductive endocrine disease, which is the most common cause of anovular infertility. Modern medicine mainly treats infertile patients with PCOS by improving living habits, ovulation induction therapy, and assisted reproductive technology (ART), but the effect is not satisfied. Complementary alternative medicine (CAM) has conspicuous advantages in the treatment of PCOS infertility due to its good clinical efficacy, wide mechanism of action, and no obvious adverse reactions, but its safety and effectiveness in the treatment of PCOS infertility have not been proved. Based on the existing clinical and experimental studies, this paper looks for the therapeutic effect and the mechanism behind it, and explores the safety and effectiveness of its treatment in PCOS infertility, in order to provide reference for future clinical treatment and experimental research.

Safety and efficacy of auricular acupuncture in patients with depression after percutaneous coronary intervention: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

With the advantages of miniature damage and optimal effectiveness, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been performed in a large number of coronary artery disease patients. However, recent studies have indicated a higher incidence of depression on post-PCI patients. Acupuncture therapy is effective for depression. As a form of acupuncture, the auricular acupuncture has been used to relieve symptoms in patients with post-PCI depression, but its effectiveness and safety have not yet reached a definitive conclusion. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis protocol is planned to evaluate the efficacy and safety of auricular acupuncture for depression in post-PCI patients.

METHODS

Six English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Springer Cochrane Library, and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) and 4 Chinese databases (Wan Fang Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database) will be searched normatively according to the rule of each database from the inception to February 1, 2022. Two reviewers will independently conduct article selection, data collection, and risk of bias evaluation. Any disagreement will be resolved by discussion with the third reviewer. Either the fixed-effects or random-effects model will be used for data synthesis based on the heterogeneity test. The change in the scores on the Hamilton Depression Scale and the Self-rating Depression Scale will be used as the main outcome measure. All-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events, rehospitalisation rate, and Quality of Life Scale as the secondary outcome. Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale, general physical examination (temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure), routine examination of blood, urine and stool, electrocardiogram, liver and kidney function examination as the security indexes. RevMan 5.3.5 will be used for meta-analysis.

RESULTS

This study will provide high-quality evidence to assess the efficacy and safety of auricular acupuncture for depression in post-PCI patients.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review will explore whether auricular acupuncture is an effective and safe intervention for depression in post-PCI patients.

INPLASY REGISTRATION NUMBER

INPLASY202230003.

The efficacy and safety of acupuncture for patients with post-percutaneous coronary intervention depression: A protocol for systematic review and meta analysis

BACKGROUND

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been increasingly applied as an effective revascularization strategy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, recent studies had indicated a higher incidence of depression on post-PCI patients. Acupuncture therapy is effective for depression. However, the treatment effect of depression on post-PCI patients is still not clear. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis protocol is planned to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for depression in post-PCI patients.

METHODS

Six English databases (PubMed, Web of science, Medline, EMBASE, Springer Cochrane Library and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform) and 4 Chinese databases (Wan fang Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI) and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database) will be searched normatively according to the rule of each database from the inception to August 1, 2020. Two reviewers will independently conduct article selection, data collection, and risk of bias evaluation. Any disagreement will be resolved by discussion with the third reviewer. Either the fixed-effects or random-effects model will be used for data synthesis based on the heterogeneity test. The change in the scores on the Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) and the Self-rating depression scale (SDS) will be used as the main outcome measure. All-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events (MACEs), rehospitalisation rate and Quality of Life Scale (SF-36) as the secondary outcome. Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS), General physical examination (temperature, pulse, respiration, blood pressure), Routine examination of blood, urine and stool, Electrocardiogram, Liver and kidney function examination as the security indexs. RevMan5.3.5 will be used for meta-analysis.

RESULTS

This study will provide high-quality evidence to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture for depression in post-PCI patients.

CONCLUSION

This systematic review will explore whether acupuncture is an effective and safe intervention for depression in post-PCI patients.