title: Effects of abdominal electroacupuncture on parameters related to obesity in obese women: a pilot study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of electroacupuncture at abdominal meridian points on various obesity-related parameters: body weight (BW), body fat (BF) percentage, body mass index (BMI), percent ideal body weight (PIBW), and waist (WC) and hip (HC) circumferences. All of these parameters changed significantly compared to pretreatment in this pilot uncontrolled study involving 31 women with obesity. The percent reductions were 5.3% in BW, 1.3% in BF, 4.7% in BMI, 6.0% in PIBW, 4.6% in WC, 6.2% in HC, and 2.1% in the WC/HC ratio. The most affected variable was WC (effect size=0.58). Since this was a pilot study with several limitations, such as a small sample size and absence of a control treatment and appropriate follow-up, further studies that include a randomized design, larger sample sizes, and more detailed data about the subjects are needed to convincingly show the effects of electroacupuncture at abdominal meridian points on overweight and obese patients.
authors.affiliation: Center for Integrative Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Republic of Korea. drmslee@gmail.com
authors.forename: Myeong Soo
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jeong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hwan Kim
authors.forename: Hyun-Ja
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Byung-Cheul
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Shin
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D035061:Control Groups; D015671:Electroacupuncture / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D016740:Meridians; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012107:Research Design; D018401:Sample Size; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio