OBJECTIVETo assess the effectiveness and safety of various types of acupuncture in treatment of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

METHODSSearch Chinese and English databases of the Cochrane Library, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CBM, CNKI and reference lists of correlative academic conference proceedings.

RESULTSEight controlled studies involving 807 women (range, 61-225) meeting the enrolled criteria. Among them 7 studies showed that therapeutic effects of acupuncture were superior to other methods (i. e. Western medicine or Chinese herbs).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture can effectively treat PMS. However, more randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the effectiveness and adverse-effect of acupuncture for treatment of PMS.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Databases, Factual ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Premenstrual Syndrome ; therapy ; Research Design ; Treatment Outcome