WC; evidence, what about HAs?

[Guest guest]

, <snakeoil.works@m...> wrote:

>

> Meanwhile, Andrew Weil posts this in his e-newsletter:

>

> Acupuncture for Chronic Headaches

> Results of a recently published British study show that acupuncture

combined

> with drugs works better than conventional medical treatment alone to treat

> chronic headaches, many of which are migraines.

 

good news. we were referring to the NIH consensus statement. a few more

good studies have trickled in since that time. but one study will also not get

much weight. now it needs to be reproduced a few times. also note that it

touts acupuncture plus drugs, not acu alone. I am not being a naysayer here. I

am making what I believe to be standard research critiques. We have to

consider what the mainstream standard is. Studies need to be overwhelmingly

large or reproduced several times to be valid. So someone should reproduce

the british study. It should be easier to get NIH money now that it has been

done once.

 

[Guest guest]

At the end of the study, researchers noted that the patients who had

acupuncture claimed 22 fewer days of headaches per year, used 15-percent

less medication, made 25-percent fewer visits to their doctors, and lost

fewer work days than the other group.

 

>>>Was this sham controlled?

Alon

 

 

[Guest guest]

> At the end of the study, researchers noted that the patients who had

> acupuncture claimed 22 fewer days of headaches per year, used 15-percent

> less medication, made 25-percent fewer visits to their doctors, and lost

> fewer work days than the other group.

>

> >>>Was this sham controlled?

> Alon

 

Alon,

I don't get from reading it that it was 'sham controlled'. But

coincidentally here is a report of apparently the same study, as mentioned

on Medscape:

 

Acupuncture Shown to Benefit Headache in Primary Care

 

 

 

By Stephen Pincock

 

LONDON (Reuters Health) Mar 15 - Patients with chronic headache gain

persisting, clinically relevant improvements in their condition when given

acupuncture, researchers report in the British Medical Journal " Online

First " published March 15th. The intervention is also cost effective, they

say.

 

The clinical benefits of the treatment were particularly noticeable for

those patients with migraine, report Dr. Andrew Vickers, at Memorial

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and UK based colleagues.

 

They randomly assigned 401 patients with chronic headache, " predominantly

migraine, " to either a maximum of 12 acupuncture treatments over three

months, or a control intervention of usual care from their general

practitioner.

 

" Acupuncture in addition to standard care results in persisting, clinically

relevant benefits for primary care patients with chronic headache,

particularly migraine, compared with controls, " the researchers write in a

paper published online on March 15.

 

Specifically, the primary endpoint of headache score at 12 months was better

in the acupuncture group, who had a 34% reduction from baseline, compared

with 16% in the control group.

 

Patients in the acupuncture group had the equivalent of 22 fewer days of

headache a year.

 

There were also benefits in quality of life measures. On the SF-36 health

status questionnaire, differences reached statistical significance for

physical role functioning, energy and change in health. The acupuncture

patients took 15% less medication, made 25% fewer visits to their GP and

took 15% fewer days off work.

 

This is by far the largest trial ever done in this area, which also tried to

reflect the " real world " conditions of the National Health Service, Dr.

Vickers told Reuters Health.

 

In a separate paper, the group assessed the cost-effectiveness of offering

acupuncture and found it to be " relatively cost effective compared with a

number of other interventions provided by the NHS. "

 

" There is no absolute threshold for calling something cost-effective or not,

but the NHS has made many decisions based on a figure of 30,000 (pounds) per

quality adjusted life year, " Dr. Vickers said. Their estimated cost was

around 9000 pounds, " and we erred conservatively, " he said. " So clearly

acupuncture compares well with other interventions that have been given the

NHS go ahead. "

 

Given these findings, the therapy should be widely available through the

National Health Service (NHS), they conclude. " Expansion of NHS acupuncture

services for headache should be considered. "

 

BMJ 2004.

 

 

----Dr. Andrew Weil had referenced the March 15 online BMJ.

[Guest guest]

Alon,

I don't get from reading it that it was 'sham controlled'. But

coincidentally here is a report of apparently the same study, as mentioned

on Medscape:

>>>>>If it is not sham control here in the US they will dismiss it. However, it

is a larger study than we usually seen and therefore more significant. The more

we have the better of we are. By the way there is a great book put out i believe

by BMJ called evidence based medicine, its updated all the time

Alon