Effect of acupuncture or acupressure on quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive asthma: a pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
Acupuncture and acupressure are known to relieve symptoms associated with asthma, but the benefits to patients with chronic obstructive asthma have not been fully evaluated. In this pilot clinical study, acupuncture or acupressure was incorporated into the standard care for adult patients with chronic obstructive asthma to determine their contribution to the improvement of their quality of life and relief of symptoms.


METHODS
A prospective, randomized study that involved 8 weeks of treatment at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (Tao-Yuan, Taiwan) was conducted between March 1997 and September 1998. Forty-one (n = 41) patients with chronic obstructive asthma were enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture in addition to standard care (n = 11), acupressure and standard care (n = 17), or standard care alone (n = 13). Twenty (20) acupuncture treatments were administered, and self-administered acupressure was performed daily for 8 weeks. Six-minute walking, the Dyspnea Visual Analogue Scale, the modified Borg scale, St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and the Bronchitis Emphysema Symptom Checklist (BESC) were used at the beginning and end of the 8 weeks of treatment.


RESULTS
The total SGRQ score of acupuncture subjects showed an average 18.5-fold improvement (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.54-211.48, p = 0.02); the improvement for the acupressure subjects was 6.57-fold (95% C.I. 0.98-44.00, p = 0.05). Additionally, for patients who received acupressure, the irritability domain score determined by the BESC exhibited an 11.8-fold improvement (95% C.I. 0.88-158.64, p = 0.06) after adjustment for covariables. The other variables did not differ from those of the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with clinically stable, chronic obstructive asthma experienced clinically significant improvements in quality of life when their standard care was supplemented with acupuncture or acupressure.
Maa
Suh-Hwa
SH
School of Nursing, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
Sun
Mao-Feng
MF
Hsu
Kuang-Hung
KH
Hung
Tzong-Jen
TJ
Chen
Hao-Cheng
HC
Yu
Chih-Teng
CT
Wang
Chun-Hua
CH
Lin
Horng-Chyuan
HC
D019050:Acupressure / Q000379:methods; D015667:Acupuncture Analgesia / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome