Editor's Impact Statement
Comment on Today's Focus On Migraine by Stephen Silberstein MDAcupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial
Clinical Impact, from MDLinx , 04/27/2012
What was the paper?
Li et al assessed the efficacy of acupuncture at migraine–specific acupuncture points compared with other acupuncture points and sham acupuncture. They performed a multicentre, single–blind randomized controlled trial in 480 migraine patients randomly assigned to one of four groups (Shaoyangspecific acupuncture, Shaoyang–nonspecific acupuncture, Yangming–specific acupuncture or sham acupuncture [control]). All groups received 20 treatments, which included electrical stimulation, over a period of four weeks. Compared with patients in the control group, patients in the acupuncture groups reported fewer days with a migraine during weeks 5–8, however the differences between treatments were not significant (p > 0.05). They found that there was a significant, but not clinically relevant, benefit for almost all secondary outcomes in the three acupuncture groups compared with the control group. There was no relevant differences between the three acupuncture groups.
What this may mean to your patients?
Acupuncture is commonly used to treat migraine. This study showed that acupuncture had a minimal effect on migraine prophylaxis compared with sham acupuncture
