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Review
. 2021 Apr 17;10(8):1750.
doi: 10.3390/jcm10081750.

Evidence Map of Cupping Therapy

Tae Young Choi  1 , Lin Ang  1   2 , Boncho Ku  3 , Ji Hee Jun  1 , Myeong Soo Lee  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Evidence Map of Cupping Therapy

Tae Young Choi et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

This study aimed to describe and assess the current evidence in systematic reviews on cupping therapy for various conditions. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and six Korean databases for systematic reviews of trials on cupping treatments for any condition published prior to March 2021. We used a bubble plot to graphically display the clinical topics, the number of articles, the number of participants in the total population, confidence, and effectiveness. Thirteen systematic reviews that met the inclusion criteria were included in the evidence map, and 16 bubbles were created. The findings from six reviews showed potential benefits of cupping for conditions such as low back pain, ankylosing spondylitis, knee osteoarthritis, neck pain, herpes zoster, migraine, plaque psoriasis, and chronic urticaria. Cupping has been applied in a variety of clinical areas, and systematic reviews in a few of these areas have demonstrated statistically significant benefits. The evidence map provides a visual overview of cupping research volume and findings. Evidence mapping can facilitate the transfer of knowledge from researchers to policymakers and promote research on musculoskeletal pain (such as low back pain, neck pain, and knee osteoarthritis) and skin disease (plaque psoriasis).

Keywords: cupping therapy; evidence map; evidence synthesis; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA diagram for the included studies. SR: systematic review.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evidence map of cupping therapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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