title: Electroacupuncture for Tinnitus: A Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Treatment effects of electroacupuncture for patients with subjective tinnitus has yet to be clarified.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of electroacupuncutre for alleviating the symptoms of subjective tinnitus.
  
  
  METHODS
  Extensive literature searches were carried out in three English and four Chinese databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang Chinese Digital Periodical and Conference Database, VIP, and ChiCTR).The date of the most recent search was 1 June 2014. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs were included. The titles, abstracts, and keywords of all records were reviewed by two authors independently. The data were collected and extracted by three authors. The risk of bias in the trials was assessed in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook, version 5.1.0. (http://www.handbook.cochrane.org). Eighty-nine studies were retrieved. After discarding 84 articles, five studies with 322 participants were identified. Assessment of the methodological quality of the studies identified weaknesses in all five studies. All studies were judged as having a high risk of selection and performance bias. The attrition bias was high in four studies. Incompleteness bias was low in all studies. Reporting bias was unclear in all studies. Because of the limited number of trials included and the various types of interventions and outcomes, we were unable to conduct pooled analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the poor methodological quality of the primary studies and the small sample sizes, no convincing evidence that electroacupuncture is beneficial for treating tinnitus could be found. There is an urgent need for more high-quality trials with large sample sizes for the investigation of electroacupuncture treatment for tinnitus.
authors.affiliation: Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Xinrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Luyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the Teaching Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
authors.forename: Qinxiu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D006801:Humans; D017594:Publication Bias; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy