Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of grand anxiety disorder by applying Meta-analysis.Methods Randomized controlled trials on acupuncture treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in 7 Chinese and English databases from the establishment of the database to May 1,2022 were searched for screening,inclusion and literature risk assessment.Meta-analysis and subgroup analysis of different outcome indicators and/or intervention measures were performed using Stata 16 and Review Manager 5.4 software.Results Finally,20 randomized controlled trials were included,including 1661 cases and 4 intervention measures(acupuncture+electroacupuncture,acupuncture,electroacupuncture and western medicine).The results of meta-analysis indicated that there were statistically significant differences in HAMA and SAS scores between acupuncture group and western medicine group(P<0.05).The results of subgroup analysis showed that there was statistically significant difference in Hamilton anxiety scale(HAMA)score between acupuncture group and alprazolam.There was a statistically significant difference in self-rating anxiety scale(SAS)score between acupuncture group and simple paroxetine,buspirone,chlorhexidine/oryzanol/propranolol.In the evaluation of side effect scale,the difference between acupuncture(including electroacupuncture)group and western medicine group was statistically significant(P<0.01).Conclusion Acupuncture(including electroacupuncture)can effectively improve anxiety and symptoms with efficacy no less than that of Western medicine,and has the advantages of fewer adverse effects and higher safety.However,due to the quantity and quality of the included literature,multi-center,large sample,and high-quality randomized controlled studies are still needed to further corroborate the above conclusions.