Ye Q, et al. – The therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture for dysphagia after stroke was evaluated. The researchers demonstrated that in terms of efficacy rate of dysphagia after stroke, the acupuncture group was better than the control group. And the combining result of those researches using blind method was more strong in proof. For further exploration, strict evaluation standard and high–quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) design were required.

• The researchers searched 7 electronic databases from their inception until 31 September 2016.
• They enrolled all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) incorporating acupuncture or acupuncture combined with other interventions for the treatment of dysphagia after stroke.
• Then they were extracted and evaluated by 2 independent evaluators.
• In RevMan 5.3.0 software, direct comparisons were conducted.

• The researchers included 6010 patients of 71 papers.
• The pooled analysis of efficacy rate of 58 studies demonstrated that with moderate heterogeneity, acupuncture group was superior to the control group (RR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13 1.21, Z = 9.08, and P < 0.00001).
• Meta-analysis of the studies using blind method revealed that with no heterogeneity, the efficacy rate of acupuncture group was 3.01 times that of the control group (RR = 3.01, 95% CI: 1.95 4.65, Z = 4.97, and P < 0.00001).
• In this investigation, only 13 studies mentioned the safety evaluation.