BACKGROUND: In Japan, studies on acupuncture therapy for respiratory disease have rarely been reported. Additionally, most of the reports are difficult for overseas researchers to access because they are written in Japanese and cannot be located using Medline. PURPOSE: To review studies on acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for respiratory disease conducted in Japan. DATA SOURCES: The results of a literature search using "Igaku Chuo Zasshi Web" and the Medical Online Library, both of which are Japanese databases, covering the period between 1979 and 2006. STUDY SELECTION: This study reviewed references cited in retrieved documents and selected original articles and case reports on acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for respiratory disease. Data extraction: The search terms used were "acupuncture" and "respiratory disease", along with "respiratory", "asthma", "COPD", "bronchitis" and "common cold". RESULTS: The study retrieved 34 papers on acupuncture treatment for respiratory disease written in Japanese (9 full papers, 19 case reports and 6 case series). The papers dealt with such conditions as asthma (14 trials), cough variant asthma (one trial), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (seven trials), chronic bronchitis (one trial), usual/idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (one trial) and the common cold (two trials). The study also found eight trials dealing with cold prevention. CONCLUSIONS: A small number of reports on acupuncture and moxibustion treatment for respiratory diseases were found in the Japanese databases. Future studies must use more rigorous evaluation methods, such as randomised controlled trials, to measure the effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for treating respiratory diseases.

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