An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on acupuncture for post-stroke aphasia

Introduction: Because current evidence regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture for post-stroke aphasia (PSA) is controversial, we comprehensively evaluated the methodological quality and evidence quality of systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) on acupuncture for PSA. Methods: SRs/MAs on acupuncture treatment for PSA were searched in eight databases. Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2) and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) assessments were used to ascertain the methodological quality and evidence quality, respectively. Results: Six SRs/MAs on acupuncture treatment for PSA were included. The evaluation results of AMSTAR-2 showed that the methodological quality of all of the included SRs/MAs was rated as critically low. For GRADE, 14 (14/32, 43.75%) outcomes were rated as very low-quality evidence, 12 (14/32, 37.5%) as low-quality evidence, 6 (6/32, 18.75%) as moderate-quality evidence, and 0 as high-quality evidence. Descriptive analysis results showed that acupuncture combined with speech and language therapy (SLT) appears, to some extent, to improve clinical effectiveness for the treatment of PSA, compared with SLT alone. Conclusions: Compared with SLT alone, acupuncture combined with SLT for the treatment of PSA may improve clinical effectiveness, but this conclusion must be considered cautiously due to the generally low methodological quality and evidence quality in the included SRs/MAs.