OBJECTIVETo systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture on diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in the past five years.

METHODSOnline databases, including CNKI, VIP, WANFANG, PubMed, CBM, ScienceDirect OnSite, Cochrane Library, etc. were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for diarrhea-predominant IBS. Retrieval time was from January of 2011 to January of 2016. According to modified Jadad standard, the bias risk and quality assessment of each RCT included were evaluated by two researchers. RevMan 5.3 software was adopted for the meta-analysis.

RESULTSTotally 17 RCTs were included with 1 333 patients. The result of meta-analysis indicated the total effective rate of clinical symptoms improvement in the acupuncture group or acupuncture combined with western medicine group was superior to that in the western medicine group (=3.92, 95%:2.83~5.43,<0.01), and the funnel plot was basically symmetry. The result of meta-analysis showed 3-month recurrence rate:=0.22, 95%:0.12~0.41 (<0.01), indicating the recurrence rate in the acupuncture group was lower than that in the western medicine group in three month.

CONCLUSIONSAcupuncture for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome is superior to conventional treatment of western medication, which can improve the clinical symptoms and reduce the recurrence rate of patients.