Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 70, Issue 7 , Pages 265-268, July 2007

Acupuncture Therapy Results in Immediate Bronchodilating Effect in Asthma Patients

  • Kuo-An Chu

      Affiliations

    • Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Kuo-An Chu, Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, 386, Ta-Chung 1st Road, Kaohsiung 813, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Yi-Chin Wu

      Affiliations

    • Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Yao-Min Ting

      Affiliations

    • Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Hong-Chung Wang

      Affiliations

    • Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Jau-Yeong Lu

      Affiliations

    • Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Cheng Hsin Rehabilitation Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 31 July 2006; accepted 25 April 2007.

Article Outline

Background

According to previous data on asthma in the English literature, there are some results that show encouraging effects of acupuncture improving pulmonary function in asthma patients. We designed a prospective randomized crossover controlled study to determine the efficacy of acupuncture in asthma patients.

Methods

Eighteen asthma patients with bronchodilator response > 20% improvement of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were initially randomly assigned to receive 1 performance of real acupuncture (RA) or sham acupuncture (SA) in a blinded manner. After a washout period, the patients were crossed over. Spirometry was done and recorded before and after acupuncture.

Results

Sixteen of 18 patients completed the study. The mean (± SD) FEV1 values before and after RA were 1.52 ± 0.45 L and 1.67 ± 0.40 L, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean (± SD) FEV1 values before and after SA were 1.49 ± 0.40 L and 1.49 ± 0.41 L, respectively (p = 0.838, not significant). The percentage change in FEV1 values after RA was better than after SA (RA, 11.57 ± 8.11%; SA, 0.32 ± 7.76%; p = 0.003), while the bronchodilator response of FEV1 from simple inhalation bronchodilator was better than that for RA (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

In asthma patients, acupuncture treatment may result in immediate improvement of FEV1, but the degree of improvement is less than that from inhalation bronchodilator.

Key Words:  acupuncture , asthma , spirometry

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

 

Back to Article Outline

References 

  1. Chou P , Lai MY , Chung C , Chen JM , Chen CF . Acupuncture utilization in Taiwan . J Chin Med Assoc . 1998;61:151–158
  2. Lewith GT , Watkins AD . Unconventional therapies in asthma: an overview . Allergy . 1996;51:761–769
  3. Jobst K, Chen JH, McPherson K, Arrowsmith J, Brown V, Efthimiou J, et al  Controlled trial of acupuncture for disabling breathlessness . Lancet . 1986;2:1416–1419
  4. Chu J . The local mechanism of acupuncture . J Chin Med Assoc . 2002;65:299–302
  5. Yu DY , Lee SP . Effect of acupuncture on bronchial asthma . Clin Sci Mol Med . 1976;51:503–509
  6. Biernacki W , Peake MD . Acupuncture in treatment of stable asthma . Respir Med . 1998;92:1143–1145
  7. Chu KA , Wu YC , Lin MH , Wang HC . Acupuncture resulting in immediate bronchodilating response in asthma patients . J Chin Med Assoc . 2005;68:591–594
  8. Takishima T , Mue S , Tamura G , Ishihara T , Watanabe K . The bronchodilating effect of acupuncture in patients with acute asthma . Ann Allergy . 1982;48:44–49
  9. Kleijnen J , ter Riet G , Knipschild P . Acupuncture and asthma: a review of controlled trials . Thorax . 1991;46:799–802
  10. Martin J , Donaldson AN , Villarroel R , Parmar MK , Ernst E , Higginson IJ . Efficacy of acupuncture in asthma: systematic review and meta-analysis of published data from 11 randomised controlled trials . Eur Respir J . 2002;20:846–852
  11. Tandon MK , Soh PF . Comparison of real and placebo acupuncture in histamine-induced asthma: a double-blind crossover study . Chest . 1989;96:102–105
  12. Shapira MY , Berkman N , Ben-David G , Avital A , Bardach E , Breuer R . Short-term acupuncture therapy is of no benefit in patients with moderate persistent asthma . Chest . 2002;121:1396–1400

PII: S1726-4901(07)70002-3

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(07)70002-3

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 70, Issue 7 , Pages 265-268, July 2007

Article Tools