Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome(IBS) by meta-analysis. Methods China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI)

Wanfang Data

China Scientific Journal Database(VIP)

China Biomedical Literature Service System(SinoMed)

PubMed

Embase

and Cochrane Library were searched for randomized controlled trials(RCTs) on acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of IBS anxiety and depression from database inception to June 30

2021. RevMan5.3 and Stata16.0 were used to conduct Meta-analysis of relevant outcome indicators. Results A total of 11 RCTs were included in this study

involving 774 IBS patients(431 in the intervention group and 343 in the control group). Eight of them used manual acupuncture(MA) intervention

and the other three used electroacupuncture(EA) intervention. Meta-analysis showed that compared with the western medicine

MA improved the sedation-agitation scale(SAS) scores(MD=5.24

95%CI=[3.49

7.00]

P<0.000 01) and self-rating depression scale(SDS) scores(MD=8.50

95%CI=[4.68

12.32]

P<0.000 1) in IBS patients

and there was no significant difference between MA or EA and western medicine in the improvement of Hamilton anxiety rating scale(HAMA) scores(MD=1.10

95%CI=[-0.36

2.56]

P=0.14) and Hamilton depression rating scale(HAMD) scores(MD=0.53

95%CI=[-0.89

1.94]

P=0.47). In terms of total effective rates(RR=1.21

95%CI=[1.12

1.31]

P<0.000 01) and the irritable bowel syndrome severity scoring system(IBS-SSS) scores(MD=42.16

95%CI=[27.40

56.91]

P<0.000 01)

both MA and EA therapy was superior to western medicine in alleviating gastrointestinal symptoms of IBS patients. Conclusion MA and EA can improve the anxiety and depression of IBS patients

while the influence of other acupuncture and moxibustion interventions needs to be deeply explored with more high-quality RCTs.