Auricular Acupuncture for Perioperative Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Purpose: We conducted a more comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture (AA) in perioperative pain management. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) findings were retrieved from the Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Web of Science, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang, VIP, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases from their inception to March 2024 using the search terms "pain", "auriculotherapy", and "randomized controlled trial". The experimental group was treated with AA alone or in combination with analgesic drugs, whereas the control group was treated with sham auricular acupuncture, placebo, conventional treatment, or no treatment. The primary outcome was the perioperative pain score. The secondary outcomes were analgesic requirements, anxiety score, and adverse events (AEs). RevMan version 5.4 was used for data analysis. Results: The analysis included a total of 21 RCTs with 1527 participants. AA was superior to the control group for reducing pain intensity (mean difference [MD]= -0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.72 to -0.17) and analgesic requirement (standardized mean difference [SMD]= -0.88, 95% CI: -1.29 to -0.46). Perioperative anxiety improvement did not differ significantly between the AA and control groups (MD= -5.45, 95% CI: -32.99 to 22.09). Subgroup analysis showed that AA exerted a significant analgesic effect as a preoperative intervention and in orthopedic surgery. The results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrated the stability of the results of the meta-analysis. AA-related AEs were mainly nausea, vomiting, and drowsiness. None of the patients in the experimental group dropped out of the trial due to AA-related AEs. Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that AA may be a promising treatment option for improving perioperative pain with few AEs. However, owing to the low quality of the current evidence, large-sample, high-quality RCTs are needed to prove this conclusion.