title: Acupuncture for Erectile Dysfunction: A Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acupuncture is increasingly used to treat patients with erectile dysfunction (ED), and our systematic review aimed to evaluate the current evidence for the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating ED.
  
  
  METHODS
  An electronic search was conducted in eight databases to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for treating erectile dysfunction that were published in English and Chinese. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three RCTs with a total of 183 participants met the inclusion criteria. One trial showed the beneficial effects of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture while the others did not. One trial suggested that acupuncture combined with psychological therapy was superior to psychological therapy alone. However, the overall methodological and reporting quality of the studies was low. The safety of acupuncture for ED was unclear because there were too few reports on this topic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The available evidence supporting that acupuncture alone improves ED was insufficient and the available studies failed to show the specific therapeutic effect of acupuncture. Future well-designed and rigorous RCTs with a large sample size are required. This trial is registered with CRD42014013575.
authors.affiliation: Department of Acupuncture, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China; Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Acupuncture, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China; Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Acupuncture, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China; Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Zongshi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Department of Acupuncture, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053, China.
authors.forename: Zhishun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D016208:Databases, Factual; D007172:Erectile Dysfunction / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009127:Muscle Rigidity / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic