Abstract: AIM: To precisely assess the efficacy of acupuncture in migraine therapy, and analyze the reasons of different conclusions between domestic and foreign clinical trails.METHODS: Pubmed, Cochrane Library, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CMB) were searched to obtain the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for the treatment of migraine. Data were synthesized using RevMan 5.0 software provided by the Cochrane Collaboration.RESULTS: Twelve high-quality RCTs comparing verum acupuncture with sham acupuncture were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that at the end of treatment the responder rate of verum and sham acupuncture were 49.5% and 43.3%, respectively. Acupuncture treatment could significantly reduced the severity of migraine by increasing responder rate (OR=1.28, 95%CI: 1.02-1.61, P=0.03). The responder rate of verum and sham acupuncture at the end of follow-up were 47.7% and 38.5%, respectively, but the difference between them was not significant (OR=1.33, 95%CI: 0.70-2.51, P=0.39). In subgroup analysis, RCTs in China showed significantly amelioration of migraine by acupuncture either at the end of treatment or follow-up (P<0.05), while RCTs in abroad showed no significant difference between two groups at the end of treatment or follow-up (P>0.05).CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis suggested that acupuncture was effective in the treatment of migraine but the effectiveness was not maintained after the withdrawal of acupuncture therapy. Since the conclusions of RCTs conducted in China and abroad are quite different, more full-scale RCTs following the principles of traditional Chinese medicine are recommended to further warrant the effectiveness of acupuncture.

Key words: Migraine, Acupuncture, Randomized controlled trial, Meta-analysis