BACKGROUND:Acupuncture is widely used in patients with allergic rhinitis, but the available evidence of its effectiveness is insufficient. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture in addition to routine care in patients with allergic rhinitis compared with treatment with routine care alone. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, patients with allergic rhinitis were randomly allocated to receive up to 15 acupuncture sessions during a period of 3 months or to a control group receiving no acupuncture. Patients who did not consent to random assignment received acupuncture treatment. All patients were allowed to receive usual medical care. The Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and general health-related quality of life (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey) were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Of 5,237 patients (mean [SD] age, 40 [12] years; 62% women), 487 were randomly assigned to acupunctureand 494 to control, and 4,256 were included in the nonrandomized acupuncture group. At 3 months, the RQLQ improved by a mean (SE) of 1.48 (0.06) in the acupuncture group and by 0.50 (0.06) in the control group (3-month scores, 1.44 [0.06] and 2.42 [0.06], respectively; difference in improvement, 0.98 [0.08]; P < .001). Similarly, quality-of-life improvements were more pronounced in the acupuncture vs the control group (P < .001). Six-month improvements in both acupuncture groups were lower than they had been at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this trial suggest that treating patients with allergic rhinitis in routine care with additional acupuncture leads to clinically relevant and persistent benefits. In addition, it seems that physician characteristics play a minor role in the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment, although this idea needs further investigation.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Acupuncture is widely used in patients with allergic rhinitis, but the available evidence of its effectiveness is insufficient. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture in addition to routine care in patients with allergic rhinitis compared with treatment with routine care alone. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, patients with allergic rhinitis were randomly allocated to receive up to 15 acupuncture sessions during a period of 3 months or to a control group receiving no acupuncture. Patients who did not consent to random assignment received acupuncture treatment. All patients were allowed to receive usual medical care. The Rhinitis Quality of Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) and general health-related quality of life (36-Item Short-Form Health Survey) were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. RESULTS: Of 5,237 patients (mean [SD] age, 40 [12] years; 62% women), 487 were randomly assigned to acupuncture and 494 to control, and 4,256 were included in the nonrandomized acupuncture group. At 3 months, the RQLQ improved by a mean (SE) of 1.48 (0.06) in the acupuncture group and by 0.50 (0.06) in the control group (3-month scores, 1.44 [0.06] and 2.42 [0.06], respectively; difference in improvement, 0.98 [0.08]; P < .001). Similarly, quality-of-life improvements were more pronounced in the acupuncture vs the control group (P < .001). Six-month improvements in both acupuncture groups were lower than they had been at 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this trial suggest that treating patients with allergic rhinitis in routine care with additional acupuncture leads to clinically relevant and persistent benefits. In addition, it seems that physician characteristics play a minor role in the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment, although this idea needs further investigation.
Authors: Claudia M Witt; Shelly Rafferty Withers; Suzanne Grant; Michael S Lauer; Sean Tunis; Brian M Berman Journal: J Altern Complement Med Date: 2014-11-05 Impact factor: 2.579
Authors: Sarah K Wise; Sandra Y Lin; Elina Toskala; Richard R Orlandi; Cezmi A Akdis; Jeremiah A Alt; Antoine Azar; Fuad M Baroody; Claus Bachert; G Walter Canonica; Thomas Chacko; Cemal Cingi; Giorgio Ciprandi; Jacquelynne Corey; Linda S Cox; Peter Socrates Creticos; Adnan Custovic; Cecelia Damask; Adam DeConde; John M DelGaudio; Charles S Ebert; Jean Anderson Eloy; Carrie E Flanagan; Wytske J Fokkens; Christine Franzese; Jan Gosepath; Ashleigh Halderman; Robert G Hamilton; Hans Jürgen Hoffman; Jens M Hohlfeld; Steven M Houser; Peter H Hwang; Cristoforo Incorvaia; Deborah Jarvis; Ayesha N Khalid; Maritta Kilpeläinen; Todd T Kingdom; Helene Krouse; Desiree Larenas-Linnemann; Adrienne M Laury; Stella E Lee; Joshua M Levy; Amber U Luong; Bradley F Marple; Edward D McCoul; K Christopher McMains; Erik Melén; James W Mims; Gianna Moscato; Joaquim Mullol; Harold S Nelson; Monica Patadia; Ruby Pawankar; Oliver Pfaar; Michael P Platt; William Reisacher; Carmen Rondón; Luke Rudmik; Matthew Ryan; Joaquin Sastre; Rodney J Schlosser; Russell A Settipane; Hemant P Sharma; Aziz Sheikh; Timothy L Smith; Pongsakorn Tantilipikorn; Jody R Tversky; Maria C Veling; De Yun Wang; Marit Westman; Magnus Wickman; Mark Zacharek Journal: Int Forum Allergy Rhinol Date: 2018-02 Impact factor: 3.858
Authors: Claudia M Witt; Mikel Aickin; Trini Baca; Dan Cherkin; Mary N Haan; Richard Hammerschlag; Jason Jishun Hao; George A Kaplan; Lixing Lao; Terri McKay; Beverly Pierce; David Riley; Cheryl Ritenbaugh; Kevin Thorpe; Sean Tunis; Jed Weissberg; Brian M Berman Journal: BMC Complement Altern Med Date: 2012-09-06 Impact factor: 3.659