ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical effect of nape acupuncture on post-stroke dysphagia by a meta-analysis.Method Domestic literature on clinical randomized controlled trials of nape acupuncture treatment of post-stroke dysphagia published from Jun. 2004 to Jun. 2014 were obtained by a computer search ofChina National Knowledge Internet(CNKI), Wanfang Data medical information system (WF), VIP information resource system (VIP) and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) combined with a manual search of Jinan University library journal database. Literature inclusion and exclusion criteria were established to extract data and the qualities of the included studies were assessed using a Jadad rating scale. A meta-analysis was made using the software ReviewManager 5.2.ResultA total of 17 articles were included with 1158 patients. The results of meta-analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the total efficacy rate [OR=3.99, 95%CI(2.83, 5.63),P<0.00001] and the cure rate[OR=2.67, 95%CI(2.03, 3.53),P<0.00001] between the nape acupuncture and control groups.ConclusionNape acupuncture has clinically a good therapeutic effect on post-stroke dysphagia. Multi-center, large-sample and high-quality studies are still needed for validation because the qualities of the included articles are lower, which is one of the factors influencing the assessment.