Guest guest Posted May 4, 2007 Report Share Posted May 4, 2007 Hi All, Bad news: the SHARP trial reported no benefit from AP over sham AP in treating hypertension (BP: systolic 140-179mm Hg; diastolic 90-109mm Hg). I have not been able to access the full text but the abstract is below: Hypertension. 2006;48:838.) © 2006 American Heart Association, Inc. Original Articles Stop Hypertension With the Acupuncture Research Program (SHARP) Results of a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial Eric A. Macklin; Peter M. Wayne; Leslie A. Kalish; Peter Valaskatgis; James Thompson; May C.M. Pian-Smith; Qunhao Zhang; Stephanie Stevens; Christine Goertz; Ronald J. Prineas; Beverly Buczynski; Randall M. Zusman From the New England Research Institutes (E.A.M., L.A.K., S.S.), Watertown, Mass; New England School of Acupuncture (P.M.W., P.V.), Watertown, Mass; Children´s Hospital Boston (L.A.K.), Boston, Mass; Massachusetts General Hospital (J.T., M.C.M.P.-S., Q.Z., B.B., R.M.Z.), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass; Samueli Institute (C.G.), Alexandria, Va; and the School of Medicine (R.J.P.), Wake Forest University, Winston- Salem, NC. Correspondence to Eric A. Macklin, New England Research Institutes, Inc, 9 Galen St, Watertown, MA 02472. E-mail EMacklin Case studies and small trials suggest that acupuncture may effectively treat hypertension, but no large randomized trials have been reported. The Stop Hypertension with the Acupuncture Research Program pilot trial enrolled 192 participants with untreated blood pressure (BP) in the range of 140/90 to 179/109 mm Hg. The design of the trial combined rigorous methodology and adherence to principles of traditional Chinese medicine. Participants were weaned off antihypertensives before enrollment and were then randomly assigned to 3 treatments: individualized traditional Chinese acupuncture, standardized acupuncture at preselected points, or invasive sham acupuncture. Participants received 12 acupuncture treatments over 6 to 8 weeks. During the first 10 weeks after random assignment, BP was monitored every 14 days, and antihypertensives were prescribed if BP exceeded 180/110 mm Hg. The mean BP decrease from baseline to 10 weeks, the primary end point, did not differ significantly between participants randomly assigned to active (individualized and standardized) versus sham acupuncture (systolic BP: -3.56 versus -3.84 mm Hg, respectively; 95% CI for the difference: -4.0 to 4.6 mm Hg; P=0.90; diastolic BP: -4.32 versus -2.81 mm Hg, 95% CI for the difference: -3.6 to 0.6 mm Hg; P=0.16). Categorizing participants by age, race, gender, baseline BP, history of antihypertensive use, obesity, or primary traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis did not reveal any subgroups for which the benefits of active acupuncture differed significantly from sham acupuncture. Active acupuncture provided no greater benefit than invasive sham acupuncture in reducing systolic or diastolic BP. Key Words: acupuncture o blood pressure o hypertension o randomized clinical trial o traditional Chinese medicine Best regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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