Acupuncture as Add-On Treatment of the Positive, Negative, and Cognitive Symptoms of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review

  • Van den Noort M
  • Yeo S
  • Lim S
  • et al.
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Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder that has a large impact on patients’ lives. In addition to Western medicine, the use of additional treatments, such as acupuncture, in treating the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms is increasing. Methods: We conducted a systematic review on the use of acupuncture as an add-on treatment for patients with schizophrenia that are in regular care, with a special focus on the treatment of the often accompanying sleep disorders. In this study, we searched the Medline, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and ERIC databases with a cut-off date of 31 December 2017, thereby following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocol. Results: Our search resulted in 26 eligible studies with 1181 patients with schizophrenia who received acupuncture treatment. Most studies showed limited evidence for the use of acupuncture as add-on therapy in the treatment of the positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms, but beneficial effects have been reported in the treatment of the accompanying sleep disorders. Conclusions: Limited evidence was found for the use of acupuncture as add-on therapy in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia; however, positive results were found in the treatment of sleep disorders, but this result needs to be confirmed in large, randomized, controlled trials.

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Van den Noort, M., Yeo, S., Lim, S., Lee, S.-H., Staudte, H., & Bosch, P. (2018). Acupuncture as Add-On Treatment of the Positive, Negative, and Cognitive Symptoms of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review. Medicines, 5(2), 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines5020029

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