{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T17:23:42Z","timestamp":1773681822973,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,21]],"date-time":"2022-11-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668988800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Biomedical Sciences doctoral plan of ICBAS-UP","award":["5573-201607053"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["5573-201607053"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Healthcare"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Several pharmacological and surgical therapies have been developed; however, they are accompanied by some adverse effects. As a result, many patients have been resorting to complementary medicine, namely acupuncture, in the hope of obtaining symptomatic improvements without having disruptive side effects. Therefore, advances in research in this area are very important. This work presents a systematic review of the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments in relieving PD symptoms. Methods: EMBASE, Medline, Pubmed, Science Direct, The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central) and Scielo databases, were systematically searched from January 2011 through July 2021. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) published in English with all types of acupuncture treatment were included. The selection and analysis of the articles was conducted by two blinding authors through Rayyan application. Results: A total of 720 potentially relevant articles were identified; 52 RCTs met our inclusion criteria. After the exclusion of 35 articles, we found 17 eligible. The included RCTs reported positive effects for acupuncture plus conventional treatment compared with conventional treatment alone in the UPDRS score. Conclusions: Although all the studies reviewed pointed out a positive effect of acupuncture on improving motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson\u2019s disease, we found great discrepancies regarding the studies\u2019 design and methodology, making difficult any comparison between them.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare10112334","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,22]],"date-time":"2022-11-22T03:04:20Z","timestamp":1669086260000},"page":"2334","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Effectiveness of Acupuncture in Parkinson\u2019s Disease Symptoms\u2014A Systematic Review"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6796-1533","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catarina Ramos","family":"Pereira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSIn\u2014Center of Biosciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4570-5445","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSIn\u2014Center of Biosciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5892-1855","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Rodrigues","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSIn\u2014Center of Biosciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"IPTC\u2014Research Department in Complementary Medicine, Portuguese Institute of Taiji and Qigong, 4470-765 Maia, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1699-6338","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nat\u00e1lia M.","family":"de Oliveira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ICBAS\u2014School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"CBSIn\u2014Center of Biosciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1750-5614","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Bego\u00f1a","family":"Criado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CBSIn\u2014Center of Biosciences in Integrative Health, 4000-105 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"TOXRUN\u2014Toxicology Research Unit, University Institute of Health Sciences, CESPU, CRL, 4585-116 Gandra, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Henri J.","family":"Greten","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"HSCM\u2014Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e23010","DOI":"10.1097\/MD.0000000000023010","article-title":"Electroacupuncture in treatment of Parkinson disease: A protocol for meta-analysis and systematic review","volume":"100","author":"Gai","year":"2021","journal-title":"Medicine"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e5836","DOI":"10.1097\/MD.0000000000005836","article-title":"Clinical effectiveness of acupuncture on Parkinson disease: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"96","author":"Lee","year":"2017","journal-title":"Medicine"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9926445","DOI":"10.1155\/2021\/9926445","article-title":"Acupuncture for Parkinson\u2019s Disease: Efficacy Evaluation and Mechanisms in the Dopaminergic Neural Circuit","volume":"2021","author":"Zhao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Neural Plast."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-12-411545-3.00007-9","article-title":"Current development of acupuncture research in Parkinson\u2019s disease","volume":"111","author":"Zeng","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. 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