Author: Meade CS, Lukas SE, McDonald LJ, Fitzmaurice GM, Eldridge JA, Merrill N, Weiss RD.
Affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA 02115, USA. christina.meade@duke.edu
Conference/Journal: J Subst Abuse Treat.
Date published: 2010 Jan
Other:
Volume ID: 38 , Issue ID: 1 , Pages: 12-21 , Word Count: 132
This pilot study tested the effectiveness of transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS) as an adjunctive treatment for inpatients receiving opioid detoxification with buprenorphine-naloxone at a private psychiatric hospital. Participants (N = 48) were randomly assigned to active or sham TEAS and received three 30-minute treatments daily for 3 to 4 days. In active TEAS, current was set to maximal tolerable intensity (8-15 mA); in sham TEAS, it was set to 1 mA. By 2 weeks postdischarge, participants in active TEAS were less likely to have used any drugs (35% vs. 77%, p < .05). They also reported greater improvements in pain interference (F = 4.52, p < .05) and physical health (F = 4.84, p < .01) over time. TEAS is an acceptable, inexpensive adjunctive treatment that is feasible to implement on an inpatient unit and may be a beneficial adjunct to pharmacological treatments for opioid detoxification.