Acupuncture for hot flashes: a randomized, sham-controlled clinical study.
OBJECTIVE
Hot flashes are a significant problem in women going through the menopausal transition that can substantially affect quality of life. The world of estrogen therapy has been thrown into turmoil with the recent results of the Women's Health Initiative trial report. Pursuant to a growing interest in the use of alternative therapies to alleviate menopausal symptoms and a few pilot trials that suggested that acupuncture could modestly alleviate hot flashes, a prospective, randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial was conducted in women experiencing hot flashes.


METHODS
Participants, after being randomized to medical versus sham acupuncture, received biweekly treatments for 5 weeks after a baseline assessment week. They were then followed for an additional 7 weeks. Participants completed daily hot flash questionnaires, which formed the basis for analysis.


RESULTS
A total of 103 participants were randomized to medical or sham acupuncture. At week 6 the percentage of residual hot flashes was 60% in the medical acupuncture group and 62% in the sham acupuncture group. At week 12, the percentage of residual hot flashes was 73% in the medical acupuncture group and 55% in the sham acupuncture group. Participants reported no adverse effects related to the treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggest that the used medical acupuncture was not any more effective for reducing hot flashes than was the chosen sham acupuncture.
Vincent
Ann
A
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Barton
Debra L
DL
Mandrekar
Jayawant N
JN
Cha
Stephen S
SS
Zais
Teresa
T
Wahner-Roedler
Dietlind L
DL
Keppler
Marina A
MA
Kreitzer
Mary Jo
MJ
Loprinzi
Charles
C
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D005260:Female; D019584:Hot Flashes / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D047648:Perimenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D010919:Placebos; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies
D010919:Placebos