[Re-evaluation of systematic reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for childhood autism].

Researchers looked at 9 reviews of acupuncture studies for children with autism. While the studies suggest acupuncture might help, the research quality was poor with many problems in how the studies were done and reported. The evidence is currently too weak to make strong recommendations. Better quality research is needed before we can know if acupuncture truly helps children with autism.

This re-evaluation examined 9 systematic reviews of acupuncture and moxibustion for childhood autism published through May 2022. Using PRISMA and AMSTAR 2 assessment tools, researchers found significant quality issues across the reviews, including poor reporting standards (scores 13-26), methodological problems such as lack of prespecified protocols and incomplete search strategies, and low overall evidence quality. The evidence map revealed 6 valid conclusions, 2 possibly valid, and 1 uncertain. While suggesting some potential benefit of acupuncture and moxibustion for childhood autism, the authors emphasize that evidence quality was compromised by study limitations, inconsistency, imprecision, and publication bias, calling for higher-quality standardized research.

While acupuncture and moxibustion may have some therapeutic potential for childhood autism, the current evidence base is insufficient to support clinical recommendations. Healthcare providers should exercise caution given the low quality of existing reviews and wait for higher-quality standardized research before considering these interventions as evidence-based treatment options.

This is a review of reviews rather than primary research. The included systematic reviews had poor methodological quality, incomplete search strategies, lack of prespecified protocols, and issues with heterogeneity analysis. Overall evidence quality was low due to study limitations, inconsistency, imprecision, and potential publication bias.

To re-evaluate the systematic review/Meta-analysis of acupuncture and moxibustion for childhood autism (CA), aiming to provide decision-making basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The systematic review and/or Meta-analysis of acupuncture and moxibustion for CA were searched in PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CNKI and Wanfang databases. The retrieval time was from the database establishment to May 5th, 2022. PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and Meta-analyses) was used to evaluate the report quality, and AMSTAR 2 (a measurement tool to assess systematic reviews 2) was used to evaluate the methodological quality, bubble map was used to construct the evidence map and GRADE was used to evaluate the quality of evidence.

A total of 9 systematic reviews were included. The PRISMA scores ranged from 13 to 26. The report quality was low, and there was a serious lack in the aspects of program and registration, search, other analysis and funding. The main problems in methodology included not making prespecified protocol, incomplete retrieval strategy, not providing a list of excluded literatures, and incomplete explanation on heterogeneity analysis and bias risk.

The evidence map showed that 6 conclusions were valid, 2 conclusions were possible valid and 1 conclusion was uncertain valid. The overall quality of evidence was low, and the main factors leading to the downgrade were limitations, followed by inconsistency, imprecision and publication bias. Acupuncture and moxibustion has a certain effect for CA, but the quality of reporting, methodology and evidence in included literature need to be improved. It is suggested to perform high-quality and standardized research in the future to provide evidence-based basis.