Acupuncture significantly reduces blood pressure in hypertension

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Hi Elie & All,

 

> " The main finding is that for the first time in a reasonably sized but

> still relatively small randomized study, this establishes beyond a

> reasonable doubt that acupuncture lowers blood pressure, "

> http://www.theheart .org/article/795577.do If you can't view it I can

> post the whole article for you. Thanks, Elie

 

Thanks, Elie. The Medline abstract is:

 

Circulation. 2007 Jun 4; [Epub ahead of print] Randomized Trial of

Acupuncture to Lower Blood Pressure. Flachskampf FA, Gallasch J,

Gefeller O, Gan J, Mao J, Pfahlberg AB, Wortmann A, Klinghammer L,

Pflederer W, Daniel WG. Med Klinik 2. BACKGROUND: Arterial

hypertension is a prime cause of morbidity and mortality in the general

population. Pharmacological treatment has limitations resulting from drug

side effects, costs, and patient compliance. Thus, we investigated whether

traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture is able to lower blood pressure.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We randomized 160 outpatients (age, 58+/-8

years; 78 men) with uncomplicated arterial hypertension in a single-blind

fashion to a 6-week course of active acupuncture or sham acupuncture (22

sessions of 30 minutes' duration). Seventy-eight percent were receiving

antihypertensive medication, which remained unchanged. Primary outcome

parameters were mean 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure levels after the

treatment course and 3 and 6 months later. One hundred forty patients

finished the treatment course (72 with active treatment, 68 with sham

treatment). There was a significant (P<0.001) difference in posttreatment

blood pressures adjusted for baseline values between the active and sham

acupuncture groups at the end of treatment. For the primary outcome, the

difference between treatment groups amounted to 6.4 mm Hg (95% CI, 3.5

to 9.2) and 3.7 mm Hg (95% CI, 1.6 to 5.8) for 24-hour systolic and diastolic

blood pressures, respectively. In the active acupuncture group, mean 24-

hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic blood pressures decreased

significantly after treatment by 5.4 mm Hg (95% CI, 3.2 to 7.6) and 3.0 mm

Hg (95% CI, 1.5 to 4.6), respectively. At 3 and 6 months, mean systolic and

diastolic blood pressures returned to pretreatment levels in the active

treatment group. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture according to traditional

Chinese medicine, but not sham acupuncture, after 6 weeks of treatment

significantly lowered mean 24-hour ambulatory blood pressures; the effect

disappeared after cessation of acupuncture treatment. PMID: 17548730

[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

 

Best regards,