Comparison of the efficacy of electroacupuncture Băihuì (百会 GV 20) and Yìntáng (印堂 EX-HN 3) and western medicine in treating depression post-schizophrenia (电针百会,印堂与西药治疗精神分裂症后抑郁疗效对比观察)

Acupuncture for treating depression in adults: systematic review and metanalysis / Acupuntura no tratamento da depressão em adultos: revisão sistemática e metanálise

“…Regarding the assessment of symptoms of depression, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD or HAMD) (32; 65.30%) (17-20, 22, 24-31, 33, 36, 38-42, 44, 45-54) . As for the duration of depression, this has not been evaluated in most studies, however six (12.24%) studies (17,18,36,40,42,45) selected people with symptoms of depression for at least one year, three (39,50,51) (6.12%) for at least two years, and four (53,55,56) (8.16%) for at least five years.…”

“…The comparison of the effectiveness of systemic acupuncture with the standard treatment for depression was observed in seven (14.30%) RCTs (18,19,22,26,33,40,41) who reported the levels of depression at the end of the treatment, using HRSD or HAMD, which entered the meta-analysis. The other studies were not included in this analysis, as they did not have enough data to perform the statistical test (44) as they performed acupuncture associated with another treatment (17,20,28,42,46,64) , or because the control group received sham acupuncture or no treatment (45,47,52) , which did not correspond to the objectives of the present study. It should be noted that the studies included in this meta-analysis treated 645 people, of which 322 received acupuncture and 323 received drug treatment for depression.…”