NIH Library of Medicine PubMed Central
Journal List Medicine (Baltimore) v.95(40); 2016 Oct PMC5059044
Background: In China, acupuncture has been proposed as a potential treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the current evidence lacks sufficient support to firmly establish the effectiveness of acupuncture in COPD. Therefore, this multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled study was devised to assess the efficacy of acupuncture in treating patients with COPD.
Methods: This is a two-arm, parallel-group, multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial with concealed allocation, ensuring blinding of participants, assessors, and analysts. Seventy-two COPD participants were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups (real acupuncture group and sham acupuncture group) in a 1:1 ratio. Patients underwent either real or sham needling at identical acupoints three times weekly for 8 weeks. The primary outcome measured was dyspnea on exertion, evaluated using the 6-minute walk test. Additionally, health-related quality of life was assessed. Measurements were taken at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment.
Results: Significant improvements in the six-minute walking distance and health-related quality of life were observed in the real acupuncture group compared to the sham acupuncture group.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that acupuncture can serve as an adjunctive therapy to alleviate dyspnea in patients with COPD.
背景： 在中國，針灸被提議作為治療慢性阻塞性肺病（COPD）的一種可能方法。然而，目前的證據不足以得出針對COPD中針灸療效的明確結論。因此，設計了這項多中心、隨機、假控制研究，旨在評估針灸治療COPD患者的效果。
方法： 這是一項雙臂、平行組、多中心、隨機、假控制的試驗，有隱藏的分配，確保了參與者、評估者和分析者的盲法。共招募了72名COPD患者，並按1:1比例隨機分為2組（真針灸組和假針灸組）。患者每週接受相同穴位的真針灸或假針灸3次，為期8週。主要結果是使用6分鐘步行測試評估的運動性呼吸困難。此外，還評估了健康相關生活質量。測量在基線和治療後8週進行。
結果： 真針灸組的六分鐘步行距離和健康相關生活質量明顯優於假針灸組。
結論： 研究結果表明，針灸可作為輔助療法，減輕COPD患者的運動性呼吸困難。
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