Acupuncture lowers blood pressure in mild hypertension patients: A randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded pilot trial.


Author: Liu Y1, Park JE2, Shin KM3, Lee M4, Jung HJ5, Kim AR6, Jung SY7, Yoo HR8, Sang KO9, Choi SM10.

Affiliation: 1Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea; Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: liuyandoc@gmail.com. 2Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: jepark@kiom.re.kr. 3Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: kyungmin7221@kiom.re.kr. 4Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: minimarine@kiom.re.kr. 5Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: only221@gmail.com. 6Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: arkim@kiom.re.kr. 7Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: syjung@kiom.re.kr. 8Dunsan Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: medicdragon@hanmail.net. 9Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: logos319@kiom.re.kr. 10Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea; Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, South Korea. Electronic address: smchoi@kiom.re.kr.
Conference/Journal: Complement Ther Med. 
Date published: 2015 Oct
Other:
 Volume ID: 23   ,  Issue ID: 5   ,  Pages: 658-65   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2015.06.014   ,  Word Count: 271  
    

OBJECTIVES:

To preliminarily assess the effects of acupuncture on prehypertension and stage I hypertension, and to provide data for further research.

DESIGN:

A randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded study with an 8-week intervention period and a 4-week follow-up.

INTERVENTIONS:

Participants were patients with systolic blood pressure (SBP) of 120-159mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 80-99mmHg.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.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

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.

RESULTS:

DBP (-5.7mmHg; P=0.025), but not SBP (-6.0mmHg; P=0.123), was significantly different between groups at post-treatment. Both DBP (-7.8mmHg; P=0.004) and SBP (-8.6mmHg; P=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 (P=0.047 and P=0.030, respectively). There were no differences between groups in EQ-5D, BMI or lipid profile.

CONCLUSION:

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.

TRIAL REGISTRATION:

KCT0000496.

Copyright © 2015 Z. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Acupuncture; Blood pressure; Heart rate variability; Prehypertension; Stage I hypertension

PMID: 26365445