Tuesday May 2nd is recognized as World Asthma Day, and in recognition of this today’s posts will focus on asthma and it’s treatment.
A recently published study from Germany looked at the use of acupuncture in a group of patients who had previously been diagnosed with allergic asthma. 357 subjects were randomized to either an acupuncture group (184) or a control group (173). In the acupuncture group subjects received three months of acupuncture. In the control group the first three months consisted of usual care for asthma, followed by three months of acupuncture.
In addition to the 357 randomized subjects there was an additional non-randomized group of 1088 subjects who were allocated only to acupuncture.
The primary endpoint of the study was the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ). The AQLQ is a validated questionnaire designed to assess the impact of functional problems on those adults with asthma. In addition to the AQLQ the Short Form-36 (SF-36) survey was administered. The SF-36 is designed to assess quality of life measures.
What the researchers discovered was that the allergic asthma patients treated with acupuncture had clinically significant improvements in both disease specific and general quality of life measures compared to those patients who only received routine care, after three months of treatment.
Two other interesting findings- the improvements in both the randomized and non-randomized acupuncture groups were stable at six months. Also, the level of training or experience of the acupuncturist did not seem to influence the results.
Another finding of this study was that any side effects from acupuncture were minor, such as bruising or needle pain.
This well designed study from Germany provides support for the use of acupuncture as an additional therapy for those afflicted with asthma. Acupuncture appears well tolerated and effective in this study population.
(Source-Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol 23, Number 4, 2017)
This blog is a review of medical and scientific literature, and should only be used for informational purposes. It does not constitute medical or health advice, nor does it create a physician-patient relationship with anyone. Discuss any health concerns with your personal physician.