title: Acupuncture therapy results in immediate bronchodilating effect in asthma patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  According to previous data on asthma in the English literature, there are some results that show encouraging effects of acupuncture improving pulmonary function in asthma patients. We designed a prospective randomized crossover controlled study to determine the efficacy of acupuncture in asthma patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen asthma patients with bronchodilator response >20% improvement of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were initially randomly assigned to receive 1 performance of real acupuncture (RA) or sham acupuncture (SA) in a blinded manner. After a washout period, the patients were crossed over. Spirometry was done and recorded before and after acupuncture.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixteen of 18 patients completed the study. The mean (+/-SD) FEV1 values before and after RA were 1.52 +/- 0.45L and 1.67 +/- 0.40L, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean (+/-SD) FEV1 values before and after SA were 1.49 +/- 0.40L and 1.49 +/- 0.41L, respectively (p = 0.838, not significant). The percentage change in FEV1 values after RA was better than after SA (RA, 11.57 +/- 8.11%; SA, 0.32 +/- 7.76%; p = 0.003), while the bronchodilator response of FEV1 from simple inhalation bronchodilator was better than that for RA (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In asthma patients, acupuncture treatment may result in immediate improvement of FEV1, but the degree of improvement is less than that from inhalation bronchodilator.
authors.affiliation: Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. kachu@vghks.gov.tw
authors.forename: Kuo-An
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Yi-Chin
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yao-Min
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Ting
authors.forename: Hong-Chung
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jau-Yeong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001980:Bronchi / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies