Clinical Studies of Bee Venom Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain in the Korean Literature

Abstract

This study aimed to identify all of the characteristics of bee venom acupuncture (BVA) for the treatment of lower back pain (LBP) that are described in the Korean literature, and to provide English-speaking researchers with bibliometrics. Six Korean electronic databases and sixteen Korean journals on BVA treatment for back pain were searched up to February 2022. This report included and analyzed 64 clinical studies on BVA interventions for back pain and 1297 patients with LBP. The most common disease in patients with back pain was lumbar herniated intervertebral discs (HIVD) of the lumbar spine (L-spine). All studies used bee venom (BV) diluted with distilled water. The concentration of BVA for HIVD of L-spine patients with LBP ranged from 0.01 to 5.0 mg/mL; the dosage per treatment was 0.02-2.0 mL, and for a total session was 0.3-40.0 mL. The most used outcome measure was the visual analogue scale for back pain (n = 45, 70.3%), and most of the papers reported that each outcome measure had a positive effect. Korean clinical studies were typically omitted from the review research, resulting in potential language bias. This study provides clinical cases in Korea for future development and standardization of BVA treatment for back pain.

Keywords: bee venom; bee venom acupuncture; clinical studies; complementary and alternative medicine; lower back pain.

Figure 1

Flowchart of the study selection process. BVA: bee venom acupuncture; CCTs: case-control trials; RCTs: randomized controlled trials.

Figure 2

Number of clinical studies in Korea by publication year.

Figure 3

Outcome measures of included clinical studies on BVA for back pain. DITI: digital infrared thermography imaging, MRI: magnetic resonance imaging, ODI: Oswestry disability index, PRS: pain relief scale, RMDQ: Roland–Morris disability questionnaire, ROM: range of motion, SLR: straight leg raise, VAS: visual analogue scale.