[escepticos] RE: [escepticos] Acupuntura ( perdón por el título anteriorequivocado)

["Yamato" <m3l-yam@...>]

A ver si lo entiendo...

Interventions Patients were randomly allocated to receive up to 12
acupuncture treatments over three months or to a control intervention
offering usual care.

Vamos, que a los pacientes que recibían el tratamiento puesto a prueba les
clavaban las agujitas, y a los del grupo de control una medicación
convencional y nada de agujas, ¿verdad?

O sea, que no llega ni a "doble tuerto".

Si no recuerdo mal, uno de los postulados de la acupuntura es que hay que
pinchar en determinados puntos. Una aproximación al doble ciego sería que al
grupo de control se le pinchase fuera de esos puntos (siempre y cuando no
los conocieran lo suficiente como para darse cuenta). Pero el experimento,
tal cual está, no creo que diga nada más allá de un "los pacientes que ven
que se les aplica un tratamiento sienten mejoría".

Saludetes.




De: Miguel Angel
Enviado el: martes, 23 de marzo de 2004 12:27


Hola

¿ Que pensais de esta noticia? al hilo de lo que se ha mencionado por aqui
recientemente?

Miguel A
_________________________________________________________

Acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care: large, pragmatic,
randomised trial

A J. Vickers , R W. Rees , C E. Zollman , R. McCarney , C. M Smith , N.
Ellis , P. Fisher , R. Van Haselen
( siguen varios cargos en instituciones de GB, Francia y EEUU)
BMJ, doi:10.1136/bmj.38029.421863.EB (published 16 March 2004)



Objective To determine the effects of a policy of "use acupuncture" on
headache, health status, days off sick, and use of resources in patients
with chronic headache compared with a policy of "avoid acupuncture."

Design Randomised, controlled trial.

Setting General practices in England and Wales.

Participants 401 patients with chronic headache, predominantly migraine.

Interventions Patients were randomly allocated to receive up to 12
acupuncture treatments over three months or to a control intervention
offering usual care.

Main outcome measures Headache score, SF-36 health status, and use of
medication were assessed at baseline, three, and 12 months. Use of resources
was assessed every three months.

Results Headache score at 12 months, the primary end point, was lower in the
acupuncture group (16.2, SD 13.7, n=161, 34% reduction from baseline) than
in controls (22.3, SD 17.0, n=140, 16% reduction from baseline). The
adjusted difference between means is 4.6 (95% confidence interval 2.2 to
7.0; P=0.0002). This result is robust to sensitivity analysis incorporating
imputation for missing data. Patients in the acupuncture group experienced
the equivalent of 22 fewer days of headache per year (8 to 38). SF-36 data
favoured acupuncture, although differences reached significance only for
physical role functioning, energy, and change in health. Compared with
controls, patients randomised to acupuncture used 15% less medication
(P=0.02), made 25% fewer visits to general practitioners (P=0.10), and took
15% fewer days off sick (P=0.2).

Conclusions Acupuncture leads to persisting, clinically relevant benefits
for primary care patients with chronic headache, particularly migraine.
Expansion of NHS acupuncture services should be considered.



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