Fang, Yang, Yue, Bo-Wen, Ma, Han-Bo et al. · Medicine · 2022 · DOI
This review looked at 51 studies testing whether acupuncture and moxibustion (traditional Chinese medicine treatments) help people with chronic fatigue syndrome. The researchers combined results from these studies and found that traditional Chinese medicine treatments, especially moxibustion alone or combined with acupuncture, showed better improvements in fatigue symptoms compared to other treatments like standard Western medicines.
This systematic review synthesizes evidence on whether traditional acupuncture and moxibustion treatments might help ME/CFS patients, a population with limited treatment options. The findings suggest these approaches warrant further rigorous investigation, though the quality of evidence remains modest.
This review does not prove that acupuncture or moxibustion work—it aggregates studies of varying quality, most with low-to-unknown certainty of evidence. The inconsistency between response rate and FS-14 scale results raises questions about outcome measurement reliability. The review also does not establish mechanisms of action or identify which patient populations might benefit most.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Fang, Yang, Yue, Bo-Wen, Ma, Han-Bo, & Yuan, Yi-Peng (2022). Acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.. Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000029310
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-fang-2022-acupuncture-moxibustion,
author = {Fang, Yang and Yue, Bo-Wen and Ma, Han-Bo and Yuan, Yi-Peng},
title = {Acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.},
journal = {Medicine},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1097/MD.0000000000029310},
note = {PubMed: 35945779},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fang-2022-acupuncture-moxibustion},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/fang-2022-acupuncture-moxibustion
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