Re: REVIEW - Acupuncture for RA: a systematic review

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:  Do you have any research on Chinese Medicine?

From: <Rheumatoid.Arthritis.Support@...>

Subject: [ ] REVIEW - Acupuncture for RA: a systematic review

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Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 10:57 AM

Rheumatology (Oxford). 2008 Dec;47(12):1747-53. Epub 2008 Aug 18.

Acupuncture for rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review.

Lee MS, Shin BC, Ernst E.

Department of Medical Research, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine,

461-24 Jeonmin-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-811, South Korea.

The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the available

evidence, from randomized clinical trials (RCTs), of acupuncture for

treating patients with RA. Systematic searches were conducted on 17

databases up to April 2008 without the language restriction. All RCTs

of acupuncture, with or without electrical stimulation or moxibustion,

for patients with RA were considered for inclusion. A total of 236

potentially relevant studies were identified and eight RCTs were

included. Four RCTs compared the effects of manual or

electro-acupuncture with penetrating or non-penetrating sham

acupuncture and failed to show specific effects of acupuncture on pain

[n = 88; weighted mean differences (WMD), 10 cm VAS -0.46; 95% CI

-1.70, 0.77; P = 0.46; heterogeneity: tau(2) = 0.19; chi(2) = 2.38; P

= 0.30; I (2) = 16%] or other outcome measures. One RCT compared

manual acupuncture with indomethacin and suggested favourable effects

of acupuncture in terms of total response rate. Three RCTs tested

acupuncture combined with moxibustion, vs conventional drugs and

failed to show that acupuncture plus moxibustion was superior to

conventional drugs in terms of response rate (n = 345; RR 1.12; 95% CI

0.99, 1.28; P = 0.08; heterogeneity: tau(2) = 0.00; chi(2) = 1.34; P =

0.51; I(2) = 0%), pain reduction (n = 105; WMD, 10 cm VAS 1.53; 95% CI

-0.57, 3.63; P = 0.15; heterogeneity: tau(2) = 1.18; chi(2) = 1.81; P

= 0.18; I(2) = 45%) or joint swelling index (n = 105; WMD, 10 cm VAS

0.25; 95% CI -1.31, 1.82; P = 0.75; heterogeneity: tau(2) =

0.18;chi(2) = 1.14; P = 0.28; I(2) = 13%).

In conclusion, penetrating or non-penetrating sham-controlled RCTs

failed to show specific effects of acupuncture for pain control in

patients with RA. More rigorous research seems to be warranted.

PMID: 18710899

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18710899

Not an MD

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[Guest guest]

Well, at least it was sham controlled!

Stan,

Seattle, Cloudy clearing.

[Guest guest]

Sham WOW!!.....teeheeteehee.....Doreen

>

> Well, at least it was sham controlled!

>

> Stan,

>

> Seattle, Cloudy clearing.

[Guest guest]

OKD,

If you narrow it down to one topic, I can search for related research.

Not an MD

On Tue, Jun 2, 2009 at 10:03 AM, Robin (OKD) <Cofade_2000@...> wrote:

>

>

> :  Do you have any research on Chinese Medicine?

[Guest guest]

:

Thank you. I would have to narrow it down to the effects of chinese heherbal

medicines on RA?

Thanks, I am always searching for better.

OKD

>

> OKD,

>

> If you narrow it down to one topic, I can search for related research.

>

>

>

> Not an MD

>