Effectiveness and safety of bee venom pharmacopuncture for rheumatoid arthritis-related pain and disease activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

What was studied

This review pooled trials of bee venom (BV) pharmacopuncture for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). BV has been used for RA in East Asia. But how well it works and how safe it is are unclear. The team searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and regional databases. They used only trials that put people into groups by chance. In all, 1,304 people with RA took part, and 14 trials were pooled. The team looked at pain, disease activity, response to care and side effects.

What they found

Used alone, BV eased pain more than Western drugs (SMD -0.99). As an add-on, it also eased pain (SMD -1.14). Only one study used the 28-joint disease activity score, and it found a clear gain. As an add-on, BV raised the response rate, with a risk ratio of 1.18. Side effect risk was fairly low. No serious side effects from BV were reported, including severe allergy (anaphylaxis).

What it means for patients

The authors say BV may ease RA pain and improve response without raising side effects. They say the evidence behind this is of low certainty. They say the effect on disease activity is still unclear. They call for better trials with set methods and tested outcome measures.

Why it is not certain yet

Certainty of evidence was low. Evidence on disease activity was limited and mixed. Only one study used a standard activity score. Add-on pain results varied a lot between studies.

Source

Effectiveness and safety of bee venom pharmacopuncture for rheumatoid arthritis-related pain and disease activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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