Effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (Zhi Mu 14) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women: results of a four-arm randomized controlled pilot trial

Nedeljkovic, Marko; Tian, Li; Ji, Ping; Déglon-Fischer, Agnès; Stute, Petra; Ocon, Erika; Birkhäuser, Martin; Ausfeld-Hafter, Brigitte (2013). Effects of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine (Zhi Mu 14) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women: results of a four-arm randomized controlled pilot trial. Menopause - the journal of the North American Menopause Society, 21(1), pp. 15-24. Hagerstown, Md.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 10.1097/GME.0b013e31829374e8

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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a clinical trial investigating the effects of acupuncture (AP) and Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on hot flushes and quality of life in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Forty postmenopausal women reporting at least 20 hot flushes per week were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. They were randomly allocated to receive traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) AP, sham AP, verum CHM, or placebo CHM for 12 weeks. Follow-up assessment was conducted 12 weeks after intervention. Primary outcome measures included hot flush frequency and severity. As a secondary outcome measure, the severity of menopausal symptoms was assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) II. RESULTS: TCM AP induced a significant decline in all outcome measures from pretreatment to posttreatment compared with sham AP (hot flush frequency, P = 0.016; hot flush severity, P = 0.013; MRS, P < 0.001). In the TCM AP group, a larger decrease in MRS scores persisted from pretreatment to follow-up (P = 0.048). No significant differences were noted between the verum CHM group and the placebo CHM group. Compared with the verum CHM group, there was a significant decrease in MRS scores (P = 0.002) and a trend toward a stronger decrease in hot flush severity (P = 0.06) in the TCM AP group from pretreatment to posttreatment. CONCLUSIONS: TCM AP is superior to sham AP and verum CHM in reducing menopausal symptoms, whereas verum CHM shows no significant improvements when compared with placebo CHM.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Medical Education > Institute of Complementary and Integrative Medicine (IKIM)
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Endocrinology (DFKE) > Clinic of Gynaecology

UniBE Contributor:

Nedeljkovic, Marko, Stute, Petra, Ocon, Ingrid Erika, Birkhäuser, Martin, Ausfeld, Brigitte

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1072-3714

Publisher:

Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Language:

English

Submitter:

Factscience Import

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:40

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:12

Publisher DOI:

10.1097/GME.0b013e31829374e8

PubMed ID:

23676632

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.16487

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/16487 (FactScience: 224137)

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