Patterns of acupuncture practice and acupoint usage in Brazil: the Fortaleza experience.
OBJECTIVE
This study is aimed at providing quantitative data on acupoint usage in Fortaleza, Brazil.


METHODS
Medical records from 100 patients subjected to acupuncture treatments from January 2005 through June 2006 were randomly selected for study. Data collected included sex/age, visit numbers, acupoints used and point combination usage.


METHODS
The Meireles Acupuncture Outpatient Clinic is part of the Brazilian Health System (SUS) and offers free acupuncture therapy to people living in Fortaleza, the fifth largest city in Brazil.


RESULTS
Analysis of sex/age distribution showed that female patients were the majority (78%). Ages ranged from 15-88 years (mean, 52 years). The acupoint data were compiled to produce a histogram of the 30 most commonly used acupoints. These 30 points represented 68% of the total number of acupoints needled in Fortaleza. The same value was found in China Beijing Hospital of TCM. The total number of unique points used was 136 in different combinations, totaling 1109 acu-points (average usage, 11 points per patient). Taichong (67%) and Taixi (63%) were the most needled acupoints.


CONCLUSIONS
The data collected demonstrate that Brazilian medical acupuncturists have a clear cut preference for some specific acupoints, as do their Chinese colleagues.
Guimarães
Sergio Botelho
SB
Medical Acupuncture Division and Surgical Research Laboratory, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil. sergiobotelho@terra.com.br
da Silva
Agamenon Honorio
AH
Braga
Jorge Montenegro
JM
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult