Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
Acupunct Med. 2018 Jun;36(3):139-145. doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2017-011382. Epub 2018 Feb 10.
Seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) is a common disease that has detrimental effects on the quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals. Approximately 18% of patients try to alleviate their symptoms through acupuncture. The ACUSAR (ACUpuncture in Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis) study (ClinicalTrials.gov registration no. NCT00610584) assessed the impact of acupuncture on SAR, showing significant improvements in rhinitis-specific QoL (RQoL) and in rescue medication (RM) use.
A secondary analysis of SAR patients' use of antihistamine.
Patients were randomised into three study groups: acupuncture plus RM, sham acupuncture plus RM, and RM alone. The patients documented their medication use before and during the intervention period (8 weeks). The main outcome was the number of days with antihistamine use. Statistical analyses were conducted using parametric and non-parametric tests. The robustness of the results was tested by sensitivity analyses using non-parametric bootstrapping.
The data from 414 patients were analysed. The acupuncture group used antihistamines significantly less often compared with the other groups (acupuncture vs sham acupuncture: mean difference -4.49 days, p=0.01; acupuncture vs RM: mean difference -9.15 days, p<0.001). Approximately 38% of the acupuncture group did not use any antihistamine in contrast to only 16% in the RM group. The pre-post comparison suggested that the acupuncture patients did not need to increase the days of antihistamine use to alleviate their symptoms, unlike the other groups.
Acupuncture appeared to significantly reduce the number of days of antihistamine use while improving RQoL and SAR symptoms; it can therefore be considered a valuable, additional treatment option for patients with SAR.
NCT00610584; Post-results.
季节性过敏性鼻炎（SAR）是一种常见疾病，会对患者的生活质量（QoL）产生不利影响。大约有 18%的患者试图通过针灸来缓解症状。ACUSAR（季节性过敏性鼻炎中的针灸）研究（ClinicalTrials.gov 注册号：NCT00610584）评估了针灸对 SAR 的影响，显示在鼻炎特异性生活质量（RQoL）和急救药物（RM）使用方面有显著改善。
SAR 患者抗组胺药物使用的二次分析。
患者随机分为三组：针灸加 RM、假针灸加 RM 和 RM 单独使用。患者在干预期间（8 周）之前和期间记录他们的用药情况。主要结局是抗组胺药物使用的天数。使用参数和非参数检验进行统计分析。使用非参数引导进行敏感性分析来测试结果的稳健性。
对 414 名患者的数据进行了分析。与其他两组相比，针灸组使用抗组胺药物的频率明显较低（针灸与假针灸：平均差异 -4.49 天，p=0.01；针灸与 RM：平均差异 -9.15 天，p<0.001）。大约 38%的针灸组没有使用任何抗组胺药物，而 RM 组只有 16%。预-后比较表明，与其他两组不同，针灸患者不需要增加抗组胺药物的使用天数来缓解症状。
针灸似乎可以显著减少抗组胺药物的使用天数，同时改善 RQoL 和 SAR 症状；因此，它可以被视为 SAR 患者的一种有价值的额外治疗选择。
NCT00610584；post-results。
