Acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial - 21/06/12
Contributors: Ying Li had full access to all aspects of this trial and was responsibile for the implementation and supervision of the study. Ying Li, Fan-rong Liang, Shu-guang Yu, Wen-jing Huang, Jie Yan, Guo-jie Sun and Xiao-rong Chang contributed to the study concept and design. Methodologic advice and statistical analysis were provided by Claudia Witt and Stephanie Roll. Data were acquired by Hui Zheng, Ying Li. Hui Zheng, De-jun Wang and Lei Lan. Ran Zou managed the clinical monitoring. Study implementation and supervision were managed by Ling Zhao, Ying Li, Fan-rong Liang, Jie Yan, Guo-jie Sun and Xiao-rong Chang. Ying Li and Hui Zheng drafted the manuscript. They, along with all other authors, revised the manuscript for important content. Administrative, technical or material support was provided by Shu-guang Yu, Hong-xing Zhang, Jie Yan, Guo-jie Sun and Xiao-rong Chang. Funding was obtained by Fan-rong Liang.
Abstract |
Background |
Acupuncture is commonly used to treat migraine. We assessed the efficacy of acupuncture at migraine-specific acupuncture points compared with other acupuncture points and sham acupuncture.
Methods |
We performed a multicentre, single-blind randomized controlled trial. In total, 480 patients with migraine were randomly assigned to one of four groups (Shaoyang-specific acupuncture, Shaoyang-nonspecific acupuncture, Yangming-specific acupuncture or sham acupuncture [control]). All groups received 20 treatments, which included electrical stimulation, over a period of four weeks. The primary outcome was the number of days with a migraine experienced during weeks 5–8 after randomization. Our secondary outcomes included the frequency of migraine attack, migraine intensity and migraine-specific quality of life.
Results |
Compared with patients in the control group, patients in the acupuncture groups reported fewer days with a migraine during weeks 5–8, however the differences between treatments were not significant (p > 0.05). There was a significant reduction in the number of days with a migraine during weeks 13–16 in all acupuncture groups compared with control (Shaoyang-specific acupuncture v. control: difference −1.06 [95% confidence interval (CI) −1.77 to −0.5], p = 0.003; Shaoyang-nonspecific acupuncture v. control: difference −1.22 [95% CI −1.92 to −0.52], p < 0.001; Yangming-specific acupuncture v. control: difference −0.91 [95% CI −1.61 to −0.21], p = 0.011). We found that there was a significant, but not clinically relevant, benefit for almost all secondary outcomes in the three acupuncture groups compared with the control group. We found no relevant differences between the three acupuncture groups.
Interpretation |
Acupuncture tested appeared to have a clinically minor effect on migraine prophylaxis compared with sham acupuncture.
Trial Registration |
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00599586
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Plan
| See related commentary by Molsberger and colleagues on page 391 and at cmaj.112032 and research article by Smelt and colleagues on page E224 and at cmaj.110908 Competing interests: None declared. This article has been peer reviewed. Ying Li and Hui Zheng contributed equally to this article. Funding: This trial was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, no. 2006CB504501). The sponsor had no role in the design of the study, the collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the article for publication. |
Vol 184 - N° 4
P. 401-410 - mars 2012 Retour au numéro
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