[A study on differences of curative effects of acupuncture and nCPAP for treatment of OSAHS].
OBJECTIVE
To compare curative effects of acupuncture and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) on obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS), and to explore the characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in treatment of this disease.


METHODS
Sixty-six cases of OSAHS were randomly divided into an acupuncture group (n = 44) treated by acupuncture at Lianquan (CV 23) and Tianrong (SI 17) etc., and a nCPAP group (n = 22) treated by nCPAP. Indexes of respiration, blood oxygen and sleep were monitored before, during and after treatment.


RESULTS
Compared with those before treatment, no significant differences of these indexes were found in the acupuncture group during treatment (P > 0.05), but hypopnea index (HI), apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the maximal apnea duration, the maximal hypopnea duration, sleep time spent when SaO2 was below 90% (SaO2 < 90%T) and the microarousal index improved significantly at the end of treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); while all the indexes improved significantly in the nCPAP group during treatment (P < 0. 01), but the therapeutic effect was not maintained at the end of treatment with no significant difference as compared with those before treatment. The therapeutic effect in the nCPAP group was better than that in the acupuncture group during the treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but no significant difference of the therapeutic effect was found between the two groups at the end of treatment (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The therapeutic effect of nCPAP on OSAHS produces during treatment and the therapeutic effect of acupuncture produces after treatment, indicating they possibly have different mechanisms.
Bo
Chen
C
Department of Acupuncture and Massage, Guiyang College of TCM, Guizhou 550002, China. chenbomed@yahoo.com.cn
Zhang
Xiao-Shan
XS
Huang
Hui
H
Jia
Ying
Y
Xie
Xi-Mei
XM
D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*