Feng, Chuwen, Qu, Yuanyuan, Wu, Jianli et al. · Medicine · 2025 · DOI
This review examined multiple studies testing whether acupuncture can help people with ME/CFS feel less tired and improve their quality of life. The researchers found that acupuncture appeared to reduce fatigue in the short term and long term, and seemed to help with depression and overall wellbeing. However, the studies reviewed had some weaknesses, so these results should be interpreted cautiously and larger, better-designed studies are needed to confirm whether acupuncture truly helps.
As ME/CFS patients often have limited treatment options and frequently seek complementary therapies, understanding the evidence base for acupuncture is clinically relevant. This meta-analysis represents one of the most comprehensive evidence syntheses on this topic and may help inform patient and provider decision-making regarding acupuncture's role in comprehensive ME/CFS management strategies.
This meta-analysis does not establish causation or prove that acupuncture is definitively effective for ME/CFS, as the included studies varied substantially in quality and methodology. The confidence intervals crossing zero for some outcomes (somatic/mental health and depression) indicate statistical uncertainty. The review cannot address which specific acupuncture approaches, dosing regimens, or patient subgroups 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
Feng, Chuwen, Qu, Yuanyuan, Wu, Jianli, Chen, Tao, Liu, Tingting, Lu, Jing, et al. (2025). The efficacy of acupuncture-based chinese medicine in chronic fatigue syndrome: A meta-analysis.. Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000042111
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-feng-2025-efficacy-acupuncture,
author = {Feng, Chuwen and Qu, Yuanyuan and Wu, Jianli and Chen, Tao and Liu, Tingting and Lu, Jing and Li, Shulin and Yang, Tiansong},
title = {The efficacy of acupuncture-based chinese medicine in chronic fatigue syndrome: A meta-analysis.},
journal = {Medicine},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1097/MD.0000000000042111},
note = {PubMed: 40419870},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/feng-2025-efficacy-acupuncture},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/feng-2025-efficacy-acupuncture
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