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Acupuncture no better than sham in hypertension - SHARP Trial

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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,

 

 

 

 

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