Electroacupuncture and acupuncture in the treatment of anxiety - A double blinded randomized parallel clinical trial.
Complement Ther Clin Pract
; 46: 101541, 2022 Feb.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1654286
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The estimated number of people living with anxiety disorders worldwide is around 264 million and is estimated to have worsened with the recent pandemic of COVID-19. Acupuncture has shown to have excellent therapeutic effects in reducing anxiety.DESIGN:
Double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial with 56 participants (21-82 years) with anxiety diagnosed by 3 different anxiety scales (BAI, GAD-7 and OASIS). A 30-min acupuncture session was applied once a week for 10 weeks.AIMS:
Evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and electroacupuncture in the treatment of anxiety to verify if (1) People with high anxiety report reduced scores after 5 and 10 sessions; (2) Salivary cortisol levels accompanied the reduced scores; (3) Electroacupuncture treatment is more effective than acupuncture; (4) the treatments is independent of anxiolytic medication.METHODS:
Volunteers were randomized into 3 groups (control, acupuncture, and electroacupuncture). The results were analyzed by anxiety scales and salivary cortisol tests.RESULTS:
The findings show an improvement in anxiety, assessed by BAI, GAD-7 and OASIS, after the 5th session of acupuncture (p < 0.05) and electroacupuncture (p < 0.05) and the 10th session for both techniques (p < 0.001). The salivary cortisol values measured in the morning followed this pattern (p < 0.05), although the reduction of the night cortisol values was not statistically significant. Electroacupuncture and acupuncture show similar efficacy. The positive effect after the treatments is independent of anxiolytic medication (p < 0.001).CONCLUSION:
Acupuncture and electroacupuncture are effective in treating anxiety on their own or as adjuncts to pharmacological therapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER NºP445-08/2017 (Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde).Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Acupuncture Therapy
/
Electroacupuncture
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Complement Ther Clin Pract
Journal subject:
Nursing
/
Obstetrics
/
Perinatology
/
Complementary Therapies
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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