Author (Year)	Groups Studied and Intervention	Results and Findings	Conclusions
Zhao et al., 2015[@145460]	60 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with diarrhea. 30 patients were treated with electroacupuncture and 30 patients were treated with moxibustion.	Patients that underwent electroacupuncture reported a significant improvement in abdominal pain at 1 month and 3 months after treatment. There were no reported adverse events during this trial.	In patients with abdominal pain secondary to IBS, electroacupuncture demonstrated good therapeutic effect.
Bao et al., 2017[@145459]	65 patients with Crohn disease were randomly divided into acupuncture and moxibustion treatment groups. Patients in each group were randomly selected to undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and after treatment.	Acupuncture was effective in treating the symptoms associated with Crohn disease by possibly modulating the homeostatic afferent processing network.	Patients with Crohn disease can be treated effectively with acupuncture. The safety of acupuncture in this condition was not evaluated.
Joos et al., 2004[@145455]	51 patients with active mild to moderate Crohn disease were randomized to acupuncture or sham treatment groups. Serum markers of inflammation were collected as a measurement of a secondary outcome.	Both acupuncture and sham treatment groups reported an improvement in well-being and quality of life. α1-acid glycoprotein concentration decreased significantly in the acupuncture group.	The act of needling is associated with an improvement in well-being and quality of life in patients with active mild to moderate Crohn disease, demonstrating a placebo effect. However, biochemical markers of inflammation showed a statistically and clinically significant improvement in disease activity. There were no serious adverse events reported.
Joos et al., 2006[@145457]	29 patients with active mild to moderate ulcerative colitis were randomly assigned to acupuncture and moxibustion or sham treatment groups. The colitis activity index (CAI) was used to assess clinical activity of ulcerative colitis as a primary outcome measure. Serum markers of inflammation were collected to assess secondary outcome measures.	Patients who received acupuncture were found to have a statistically significant decrease in CAI and statistically significant superiority in treatment of disease activity. There was no significant difference regarding inflammatory markers found between the two groups.	Acupuncture, including sham acupuncture, improved the symptoms associated with ulcerative colitis. There were no reports of adverse events.
Bao et al., 2014[@145458]	92 patients with active Crohn disease were randomly assigned to acupuncture and moxibustion or sham acupuncture and moxibustion treatment groups. The Crohn disease activity index (CDAI) was used as a primary outcome measure, and biomarkers of inflammation were used as a secondary outcome measure.	Both the treatment and control groups had a statistically significant reduction of CDAI scores post-treatment. Treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion had a significantly larger degree of improvement in comparison to the sham treatment group. In addition, the treatment group demonstrated significantly improvements in levels of inflammatory biomarkers in comparison to the control group.	Acupuncture is an effective and safe treatment for patients with active Crohn disease. There were no serious adverse events, although one patient encountered the formation of a hematoma during acupuncture.