Public Health Department, Groupe Hospitalier Universitaire Paris-Seine-Saint-Denis, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, France.
J Integr Med. 2013 Jan;11(1):26-31. doi: 10.3736/jintegrmed2013005.
This study investigated the acceptability and effectiveness of acupuncture for persistent musculoskeletal pain in the elderly and assessed the conditions for a future controlled trial.
A total of 60 patients, hospitalized in a geriatric hospital were enrolled. The intervention consisted of eight acupuncture sessions. The main outcome was the patient's participation rate. Regarding pain, the evaluation was based on pre- and post-treatment variations. As a high proportion of the patients had cognitive impairment, the behavioral pain scale DOLOPLUS-2 was chosen although self evaluation was used wherever possible.
The mean age of the patients was 83 years. The acceptance rate was very high (89.6%) and 90% of the patients completed the entire course of treatment. After five weeks, the mean DOLOPLUS score had decreased significantly (P<0.01). The patients reported improved sleep quality and a reduction in their anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, caregivers noticed a decrease in patient aggressiveness making care easier.
Our results suggest that acupuncture is highly acceptable and could be very useful in the management of chronic pain when performed in very old frail people with chronic physical and mental disability. TRIAL REGISTRATION IDENTIFIER: NCT01043692 ClinicalTrials.gov.
本研究旨在探讨针灸治疗老年人持续性肌肉骨骼疼痛的可接受性和有效性，并评估未来对照试验的条件。
共纳入 60 名住院老年医院的患者。干预措施包括 8 次针灸治疗。主要结局是患者的参与率。关于疼痛，评估基于治疗前后的变化。由于患者中有相当高比例的认知障碍，因此选择了行为疼痛量表 DOLOPLUS-2，尽管在可能的情况下使用了自我评估。
患者的平均年龄为 83 岁。接受率非常高（89.6%），90%的患者完成了整个治疗过程。五周后，DOLOPLUS 评分的平均值显著降低（P<0.01）。患者报告睡眠质量改善，焦虑症状减轻。此外，护理人员注意到患者的攻击性降低，使护理变得更容易。
我们的结果表明，针灸在治疗患有慢性躯体和精神残疾的非常虚弱的非常高龄老年人的慢性疼痛时具有较高的可接受性，并且可能非常有用。临床试验注册号：NCT01043692 ClinicalTrials.gov。
