Acupuncture lowers blood pressure in mild hypertension patients: A randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded pilot trial. Issue 5 (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Yan; Park, Ji-Eun; Shin, Kyung-Min; Lee, Minhee; Jung, Hee Jung; Kim, Ae-Ran; Jung, So-Young; Yoo, Ho Ryong; Sang, Kwon O.; Choi, Sun-Mi
• Is Part Of: Complementary therapies in medicine. Volume 23:Issue 5(2015)
• Page Start: 658
• Page End: 665
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Alternative medicine -- Periodicals; Complementary Therapies -- Periodicals; Médecines parallèles -- Périodiques; Thérapeutique -- Périodiques; Alternative medicine; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 615.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2015.06.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0965-2299

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="author" id="abs0005"> <title id="sect0005">Abstract</title> <sec> <title id="sect0010">Objectives</title> <p id="spar0050">To preliminarily assess the effects of acupuncture on prehypertension and stage I hypertension, and to provide data for further research.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="sect0015">Design</title> <p id="spar0055">A randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded study with an 8-week intervention period and a 4-week follow-up.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="sect0020">Interventions</title> <p id="spar0060">Participants were patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 120–159 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 80–99 mmHg.Thirty participants were allocated to acupuncture group or untreated control group at a 1:1 ratio. The acupuncture group received standard acupuncture twice weekly for 8 weeks, and was followed-up for 4 weeks after treatment; the control group did not receive any type of anti-hypertensive treatment for 12 weeks.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="sect0025">Main outcome measures</title> <p id="spar0065">Primary outcome measure was SBP and DBP at post-treatment. The secondary outcomes were SBP and DBP at follow-up; Euro Quality of life (EQ-5D), heart rate variability (HRV), body mass index (BMI), and blood lipid profile.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="sect0030">Results</title> <p id="spar0070">DBP (−5.7 mmHg; <italic>P </italic>= 0.025), but not SBP (−6.0 mmHg; <italic>P </italic>= 0.123), was significantly different between groups at post-treatment. Both DBP (−7.8 mmHg; <italic>P </italic>= 0.004) and SBP (−8.6 mmHg; <italic>P </italic>= 0.031) were significantly different at follow-up. Among the HRV indices, only high frequency power was significantly different between groups at weeks 4 and 8 (<italic>P</italic> = 0.047 and <italic>P </italic>= 0.030, respectively). There were no differences between groups in EQ-5D, BMI or lipid profile.</p> </sec> <sec> <title id="sect0035">Conclusion</title> <p id="spar0075">The results of this study show that acupuncture might lower blood pressure in prehypertension and stage I hypertension, and further RCT need 97 participants in each group. The effect of acupuncture on prehypertension and mild hypertension should be confirmed in larger studies.</p> <p id="spar0080">Trial registration: KCT0000496.</p> </sec> </abstract>