Acupuncture for cognitive impairment in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) has exceeded 589 million, with the proportion of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with comorbid cognitive impairment (CI) as high as 49.1%, which has a serious impact on disease management and quality of life. While acupuncture has been shown to improve cerebral glucose metabolism and synaptic plasticity, existing clinical trials are plagued by critical limitations: small sample sizes (often <100 participants) fail to detect subtle treatment effects, methodological heterogeneity in acupuncture protocols (e.g., varying acupoint selections, stimulation intensities, and treatment durations) hinders evidence synthesis, and insufficient blinding (e.g., sham acupuncture controls with low plausibility) introduces performan

SUBMITTER: Hong K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12303965 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature