BACKGROUND: Whether acupuncture is effective for Bell's palsy is controversial, and potential modifiers exist according to previous studies. OBJECTIVES: An overall and cumulative meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate and quantify this efficacy. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: Searches of PubMed, Embase, Wanfang database and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were performed up to July 2016, and a random-effect model was used to yield summary relative risks (RRs). RESULTS: Compared to conventional treatments, RRs for total effective rate and cured rate of acupuncture are 1.11 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05 to 1.17) and 1.56 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.87), respectively. Cumulative meta-analysis revealed that the efficacy of Bell's palsy have a stable and preferable variation tendency over time. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses suggested comparisons, acupuncture regimens and disease stages are potential confounding factors. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, we failed to draw a conclusion that the acupuncture is effective for facial paralysis since these limited methodological quality studies and potential biases, there need to be validated by more well designed and large sample size RCTs.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PDF locator
• publisher