Efficacy of electroacupuncture on clinical signs and immunological factors in herpes zoster: The first systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis of randomized clinical trials

Background: Electroacupuncture (EA) is utilized to address various health conditions. Herein, we designed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of EA on clinical and immunological factors in herpes zoster (HZ) based on randomized clinical trials. Methods: Four international databases and 3 Chinese databases were searched until January 2024. We used RevMan 5.3 for meta-analysis and presented the data as standardized mean difference (SMD) or odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval. Results: A total of 1361 records were identified in the databases and at last, 19 articles were entered into the meta-analysis. The result shows a negative pooled SMD of -2.55 (P < .00001) for the VAS score. The pooled SMD for cessation of pustules time in the case group compared to the control group was -0.69 (P = .0008), for pain relief time was -1.36 (P = .002), for the time to scab was -0.47 (P = .009), and for time to remove scab was -1.01 (P = .0003). The pooled OR for the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia was 0.11 (P < .00001), and the total effective rate was 4.25 (P < .00001). The pooled SMD for the cluster of differentiation (CD)3 count was 2.59 (P = .07), for the CD4 count was 2.81 (P = .04), for the CD8 count was -0.75 (P = .50), and for theCD4/CD8 ratio was 1.12 (P = .15). Conclusions: The results indicate that the EA treatment had several significant benefits compared to Western medicine (WM) in HZ patients in terms of clinical and immunological factors. But, the combination of treatments of EA with WM had better effects compared to EA treatment alone.