The prevalence of sarcopenia and its clinical predictors and clinical impact vary among kidney transplant recipients (KTRs), in part because of different diagnostic criteria. This study aimed to assess the reported diagnosis criteria of sarcopenia and compare them in terms of prevalence, clinical predictors, and impact of sarcopenia. The Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched for the full-length reports published until 28 January 2022. The subgroup analysis, meta-regression, and sensitivity analysis were performed and heterogeneity was assessed using the I 2 . A total of 681 studies were retrieved, among which only 23 studies (including 2535 subjects, 59.7% men, mean age 49.8 years) were eventually included in the final analysis. The pooled prevalence in these included studies was 26% [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 20-34%, I 2 = 93.45%], including 22% (95% CI: 14-32%, I 2 = 88.76%) in men and 27% (95% CI: 14-41%, I 2 = 90.56%) in women (P = 0.554 between subgroups). The prevalence of sarcopenia diagnosed using low muscle mass was 34% (95% CI: 21-48%, I 2 = 95.28%), and the prevalence of using low muscle mass in combination with low muscle strength and/or low physical performance was 21% (95% CI: 15-28%, I 2 = 90.37%) (P = 0.08 between subgroups). In meta-regression analyses, the mean age (regression coefficient: 1.001, 95% CI: 0.991-1.011) and percentage male (regression coefficient: 0.846, 95% CI: 0.367-1.950) could not predict the effect size. Lower body mass index (odds ratio (OR): 0.57, 95% CI: 0.39-0.84, I 2 = 61.5%), female sex (OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.16-0.61, I 2 = 0.0%), and higher age (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05-1.10, I 2 = 10.1%) were significantly associated with a higher risk for sarcopenia in KTRs, but phase angle (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.16-4.26, I 2 = 84.5%) was not associated with sarcopenia in KTRs. Sarcopenia was not associated with rejections (risk ratio (RR): 0.67, 95% CI: 0.23-1.92, I 2 = 12.1%), infections (RR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.34-3.12, I 2 = 87.4%), delayed graft functions (RR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.46-1.43, I 2 = 0.0%), and death (RR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.32-2.82, I 2 = 0.0%) in KRTs. Sarcopenia was found to be very common in KRTs. However, we have not found that sarcopenia had a negative impact on clinical health after kidney transplantation. Large study cohorts and multicentre longitudinal studies in the future are urgently needed to explore the prevalence and prognosis of sarcopenia in kidney transplant patients.

ObjectiveThis systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity.MethodsNine electronic databases were searched from their inception to 6 June 2022, to identify randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity. Two reviewers independently screened the studies, extracted the data, assessed the risk of bias. The reporting quality of interventions in controlled trials of acupuncture was evaluated using Revised Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA). The RevMan 5.4 and R 4.2.0 software were used for statistical analysis.ResultsA total of 88 eligible studies were included, involving 6,431 individuals. The pooled data demonstrated that acupuncture combined with conventional rehabilitation (CR) was superior to CR in reducing the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) score (standardized mean difference [SMD] = −0.73; 95% CI = −0.83 to −0.63; I2 = 65%; low certainty of evidence). The favorable results were also observed in comparisons of acupuncture vs. CR (SMD = −0.22, 95% CI = −0.36 to −0.07; I2 = 49%; moderate certainty of evidence). Subgroup analysis showed that acupuncture treatment with a frequency of once or twice a day was more effective than CR. In addition, the antispasmodic effect of acupuncture treatment increased with more sessions. Four studies explicitly reported slight acupuncture-related adverse events.ConclusionAcupuncture could be recommended as adjuvant therapy for spasticity after stroke. However, due to the high risk of bias and heterogeneity of the included studies, the effectiveness of acupuncture for post-stroke spasticity remains to be confirmed.

Background. Biological agents used to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis have been associated with Candida infection and other serious infections. It is, however, necessary to verify whether biologic agents increase the risk of Candida infection and serious infections and whether these risks vary among biologics. Methods. PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were searched for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from their inception to December 2021. Results from individual RCT were pooled using Peto’s method with a fixed-effects model, and I2 was calculated to assess the heterogeneity. A Cochrane collaboration tool was used to examine bias risk, and Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) were used to assess the quality of evidence. Results. This study included 48 published articles with data from 52 RCTs involving 27297 participants. The anti-interleukin (IL)-17 agents (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.54–3.45, P < 0.0001 ) and anti-IL-12/23 agents (95% CI = 1.69–3.83, P < 0.0001 ) were associated with an increased risk of Candida infection compared with placebos, but there was no difference in Candida infection risk between anti-IL-17 agents and tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) (95% CI = 0.92–3.07, P = 0.09 ). There was no evidence that the biological agents increased the risk of serious infections in adult psoriasis (95% CI = 0.93–2.06, P = 0.11 ) or that the biologics differed in the risk of serious infections. Conclusions. Our results indicated that anti-IL-17 agents, especially secukinumab, were associated with the increased risk of Candida infection. The clinically used biological agents did not increase the risk of serious infections.

BackgroundTension-type headache (TTH) is the most common neurologic disease worldwide. Acupuncture is commonly applied to treat TTH, but evidence of acupuncture for TTH is contradictory based on previous meta-analyses. Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to update the evidence of acupuncture for TTH and aimed to provide a valuable reference for clinical application.MethodsWe searched 9 electronic databases from their inceptions to July 1, 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for TTH. We also manually searched reference lists and relevant websites, and the experts in this field were consulted for possible eligible studies. Two independent reviewers conducted literature screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. The revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (ROB 2) was used to assess the risk of bias of included studies. Subgroup analyses were carried out based on frequency of acupuncture, total sessions, treatment duration, needle retention, types of acupuncture and categories of medication. Data synthesis was performed using Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 16. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Approach (GRADE) was used to evaluate the certainty of evidence of each outcome. Meanwhile, the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) was used to assess the reporting quality of interventions in clinical trials of acupuncture.Results30 RCTs involving 2,742 participants were included. According to ROB 2, 4 studies were considered as low risk, and the rest studies were some concerns. After treatment, compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture had greater effect in improvement of responder rate [3 RCTs, RR = 1.30, 95%CI (1.13, 1.50), I2 = 2%, moderate certainty] and headache frequency [5 RCTs, SMD = −0.85, 95%CI (−1.58, −0.12), I2 = 94%, very low certainty]. In contrast to medication, acupuncture was more effective to reduce pain intensity [9 RCTs, SMD = −0.62, 95%CI (−0.86, −0.38), I2 = 63%, low certainty]. Adverse events were evaluated in 16 trials, and no serious event associated with acupuncture occurred.ConclusionsAcupuncture may be an effective and safe treatment for TTH patients. Due to low or very low certainty of evidence and high heterogeneity, more rigorous RCTs are needed to verify the effect and safety of acupuncture in the management of TTH.