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Adding acupuncture to routine care in patients with chronic pain from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee was safe and resulted in “a clinically relevant and persistent benefit” in a large study of such patients, Dr. Claudia Witt and her associates have reported.
The investigators evaluated the impact of physician-administered acupuncture on Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores in their study of patients who had osteoarthritis for a mean of 5 years, a baseline WOMAC score of 47, and a mean age of 62 years.
Of the total patients, 322 were randomized to acupuncture and 310 to the control group; 2,921 who refused randomization were treated with acupuncture.
About 57% of the patients had osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, nearly 15% had OA of the hip, and approximately 30% had both, reported Dr. Witt of Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, and her colleagues.
The patients receiving acupuncture had up to 15 sessions of the therapy over 3 months and no acupuncture during the fourth, fifth, and sixth months; patients in all three groups also received conventional treatment.
At 3 months, scores on the WOMAC had improved by a mean of 17.6 points from baseline among those in the randomized acupuncture group, compared with a mean of 0.9 in the control group, a significant difference.
Almost 35% of those in the acupuncture group were responders (defined as at least a 50% reduction in WOMAC scores), compared with 6.5% of those in the control group.
Improvements in the physical component of the quality-of-life score were also significantly greater at 3 months among those receiving acupuncture.
Responses to treatment among the nonrandomized acupuncture recipients were similar to the responses among those randomized to acupuncture versus osteoarthritis patients in the control group.
In addition, the benefits of acupuncture appeared to persist through 6 months, although patients received no acupuncture after 3 months (Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:3485–93).
Adding acupuncture to routine care in patients with chronic pain from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee was safe and resulted in “a clinically relevant and persistent benefit” in a large study of such patients, Dr. Claudia Witt and her associates have reported.
The investigators evaluated the impact of physician-administered acupuncture on Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores in their study of patients who had osteoarthritis for a mean of 5 years, a baseline WOMAC score of 47, and a mean age of 62 years.
Of the total patients, 322 were randomized to acupuncture and 310 to the control group; 2,921 who refused randomization were treated with acupuncture.
About 57% of the patients had osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, nearly 15% had OA of the hip, and approximately 30% had both, reported Dr. Witt of Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, and her colleagues.
The patients receiving acupuncture had up to 15 sessions of the therapy over 3 months and no acupuncture during the fourth, fifth, and sixth months; patients in all three groups also received conventional treatment.
At 3 months, scores on the WOMAC had improved by a mean of 17.6 points from baseline among those in the randomized acupuncture group, compared with a mean of 0.9 in the control group, a significant difference.
Almost 35% of those in the acupuncture group were responders (defined as at least a 50% reduction in WOMAC scores), compared with 6.5% of those in the control group.
Improvements in the physical component of the quality-of-life score were also significantly greater at 3 months among those receiving acupuncture.
Responses to treatment among the nonrandomized acupuncture recipients were similar to the responses among those randomized to acupuncture versus osteoarthritis patients in the control group.
In addition, the benefits of acupuncture appeared to persist through 6 months, although patients received no acupuncture after 3 months (Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:3485–93).
Adding acupuncture to routine care in patients with chronic pain from osteoarthritis of the hip or knee was safe and resulted in “a clinically relevant and persistent benefit” in a large study of such patients, Dr. Claudia Witt and her associates have reported.
The investigators evaluated the impact of physician-administered acupuncture on Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores in their study of patients who had osteoarthritis for a mean of 5 years, a baseline WOMAC score of 47, and a mean age of 62 years.
Of the total patients, 322 were randomized to acupuncture and 310 to the control group; 2,921 who refused randomization were treated with acupuncture.
About 57% of the patients had osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee, nearly 15% had OA of the hip, and approximately 30% had both, reported Dr. Witt of Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, and her colleagues.
The patients receiving acupuncture had up to 15 sessions of the therapy over 3 months and no acupuncture during the fourth, fifth, and sixth months; patients in all three groups also received conventional treatment.
At 3 months, scores on the WOMAC had improved by a mean of 17.6 points from baseline among those in the randomized acupuncture group, compared with a mean of 0.9 in the control group, a significant difference.
Almost 35% of those in the acupuncture group were responders (defined as at least a 50% reduction in WOMAC scores), compared with 6.5% of those in the control group.
Improvements in the physical component of the quality-of-life score were also significantly greater at 3 months among those receiving acupuncture.
Responses to treatment among the nonrandomized acupuncture recipients were similar to the responses among those randomized to acupuncture versus osteoarthritis patients in the control group.
In addition, the benefits of acupuncture appeared to persist through 6 months, although patients received no acupuncture after 3 months (Arthritis Rheum. 2006;54:3485–93).