A groundbreaking discovery in scientific inquiry: Acupuncture demonstrates a swifter reduction in anxiety symptoms compared to pharmaceutical treatments

Authors:

Diogo Amorim, Irma Brito, Armando Caseiro, João Paulo Figueiredo, André Pinto, Inês Macedo, & Jorge Machado

Source : Electroacupuncture and acupuncture in the treatment of anxiety

Background

The estimated number of people living with anxiety disorders worldwide is around 264 million and is estimated to have worsened with the recent pandemic of COVID-19. Acupuncture has shown to have excellent therapeutic effects in reducing anxiety.

Design

Double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trial with 56 participants (21–82 years) with anxiety diagnosed by 3 different anxiety scales (BAI, GAD-7 and OASIS). A 30-min acupuncture session was applied once a week for 10 weeks.

Aims

Evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture and electroacupuncture in the treatment of anxiety to verify if: (1) People with high anxiety report reduced scores after 5 and 10 sessions; (2) Salivary cortisol levels accompanied the reduced scores; (3) Electroacupuncture treatment is more effective than acupuncture; (4) the treatments is independent of anxiolytic medication.

Methods

Volunteers were randomized into 3 groups (control, acupuncture, and electroacupuncture). The results were analyzed by anxiety scales and salivary cortisol tests.

Results

The findings show an improvement in anxiety, assessed by BAI, GAD-7 and OASIS, after the 5th session of acupuncture (p < 0.05) and electroacupuncture (p < 0.05) and the 10th session for both techniques (p < 0.001). The salivary cortisol values measured in the morning followed this pattern (p < 0.05), although the reduction of the night cortisol values was not statistically significant. Electroacupuncture and acupuncture show similar efficacy. The positive effect after the treatments is independent of anxiolytic medication (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture are effective in treating anxiety on their own or as adjuncts to pharmacological therapy.

Trial registration number

NºP445-08/2017 (Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde);