Categorial structure of acupuncture points for terminological resources.

Recent increase in the number of clinical reports of acupuncture requires terminological resources based on conceptual frameworks for knowledge management. For this purpose, we developed a categorial structure for acupuncture points based on ISO 17115.

Demand for CAM Practice at Hospitals in Japan: A Population Survey in Mie Prefecture.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies have been provided at hospitals along with conventional medicine in industrialized nations. Previous studies conducted in Japan revealed high proportion of Japanese had experience of using CAM, but failed to discuss how it should be provided. The present study aims to clarify the demand for CAM practice at hospitals in Japan. A questionnaire consisting of 41 questions was mailed to 10 000 adults randomly selected from the electoral roll of Mie prefecture, Japan in January 2007. The questionnaire asked the subjects about demand for CAM practice at hospitals, types of CAM therapy to be provided and associated reasons. Sociodemographic characteristics, perceived health status, experience and purpose of CAM use, and information resource for CAM were also surveyed. Completed answers were collected from 2824 (28.6%) respondents. Two thousand and nineteen (71.5%) of the respondents demanded CAM practice at hospitals with the most likely reason of "patients can receive treatment under the guidance of a physicians". The three most popular CAM therapies were Kampo, acupressure/massage/Shiatsu and acupuncture/moxibustion. The demand was positively associated with gender, ages of 40-59 years, annual household incomes of 5-7 million yen, occupation of specialist and technical workers and sales workers and poor health status. Higher demand was observed among those who used both CAM and conventional medical therapies for curative purposes. In conclusion, Japanese show a high demand for CAM practice, hoping to use CAM for curative purposes with monitoring by physicians at hospitals.

Acupuncture can reduce perceived pain, mood disturbances and medical expenses related to low back pain among factory employees.

To investigate the effects of acupuncture on perceived pain, mood disturbances and medical expenses related to low back pain (LBP), an intervention study was performed among 72 employees of a steel company, 70 males and 2 females, aged 53.1+/-7.1 (mean+/-SD) yr, with LBP. They received acupuncture treatment once a week for 8 wk (from October to December 1998) by licensed acupuncturists, adopting a new hypothesis of the Meridian test. Perceived pain scale, and Profile of Mood States (POMS) were administered. Past and present histories of employees' visits to hospitals and their medical expenses for LBP were surveyed from receipts obtained from the subjects' branch factory and from receipts from another nearby branch factory (control) during the period from April 1998 to March 1999. After 8 wk of treatment, patients with LBP reported diminished pain (p<0.01). POMS showed a significant decrease in the total mood disturbance score (p<0.001). The number of visits to conventional hospitals (12.1+/-8.0 vs. 0.8+/-0.8 per month, p<0.05) and standardized medical expenses for LBP (100.1+/-89.6 vs. 7.3+/-6.9 per month, p<0.05) after acupuncture intervention (November 1998 to March 1999) were significantly decreased as compared with those before intervention (April 1998 to October 1998). In contrast, such decreases were not observed in employees from the control branch factory. It is suggested that acupuncture can reduce medical expenses for LBP through improvement in mood and pain.