OBJECTIVETo acquire the optimal intervention methods of acupuncture on primary depressive disorder (PDD) through high quality clinical evidences of acupuncture for PDD and analytic hierarchy process.

METHODSDatabases of domestic and international medical literatures were retrieved with computer. And high-quality clinical evidences on treatment of PDD with acupuncture were collected. Jadad scale evaluation was adopted to estimate the quality of evidences. RevMan 5.1 software was applied for Meta analysis and statistical appraisal on effect size. Analytic hierarchy process was utilized on acquired clinical evidences to construct the model and matrix to screen the optimal interevention method.

RESULTSFourteen researches were included. And the result of Meta analysis showed that no statistical differences could be found on clinical control rate, marked effectiveness rate, effective rate and the overall clinical effective rate between acupuncture and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs). The combination of acupuncture and SSRIs could improve the clinical control rate and the overall clinical effective rate. And a 6-week intervention of electro-acupuncture combined with SSRIs was considered as the best intervention for the best overall effect.

CONCLUSIONBased on the present clinical evidences, a 6-week intervention of acupuncture combined with SSRIs is the best intervention on mild or moderate PDD, which can obviously enhance the clinical control rate and the overall clinical effective rate.