Acupuncture Research

PAIN

Acupuncture for the Treatment of Climacteric Syndrome

Shen X, et al. The Second Clinical Dept. of Anhui TCM College, Hefei 230038, China.

In order to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on the treatment of climacteric syndrome (menopause), 65 patients were randomly assigned to an acupuncture group (N=35) and a control group (N=30). The acupuncture group was treated with only acupuncture and the control group was treated with only medication. The effects of treatment were evaluated by means of the clinical outcome, improvement in the symptom scores and the results of radioimmunoassays.

In the acupuncture group, 12 patients were cured, 16 patients showed significant improvement, and 6 patients showed improvement. The total effective rate was scored as high as 97.14%. The decrease in symptom scores, and especially the elevation of the decreased E2 level and the decrease of the increased FSH and LH levels, demonstrated that the beneficial effects of acupuncture was greater than medication. In conclusion, acupuncture is an effective therapy for climacteric syndrome.