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Su 2564 pazienti con lombalgia cronica l'Agopuntura dimezza il numero di giorni con lombalgia posted on 19-04-2007

Notizia, adattamento e commento a cura di Andrea Valeri, responsabile del Dipartimento di ricerca clinica della Società Italiana di Medicina Omeopatica.  avaleri11@libero.it

Clin J Pain. 2007 Feb;23(2):128-35.

Acupuncture for chronic low back pain in routine care: a multicenter

observational study.

Weidenhammer W, Linde K, Streng A, Hoppe A, Melchart D.

Department of Internal Medicine II, Center for Complementary Medicine Research,

Technische Universitat Munchen, Germany.Wolfgang.Weidenhammer@lrz.tu-muenchen.de

OBJECTIVE: To investigate patient characteristics and outcomes after undergoing

acupuncture treatment for chronic low back pain (cLBP) in Germany and to analyze

chronification, pain grading, and depression as predictors for treatment

outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with cLBP (ICD-10 diagnoses M54.4 or

M54.5) who underwent acupuncture therapy (mean number of sessions 8.7+/-2.9)

within the framework of a reimbursement and research program sponsored by German

statutory sickness funds were included in an observational study. Patients were

asked to complete detailed questionnaires that included questions on intensity

and frequency of pain and instruments measuring functional ability, depression,

and quality of life (SF-36) before and after treatment and 6 months after

beginning acupuncture. Participating physicians assessed pain chronification in

patients.

RESULTS: A total of 2564 patients (mean age 57.7+/-14.0 y, 78.7%

female), who were treated by 1607 physicians, were included in the main

analysis.

After 6 months (6-mo follow-up), 45.5% of patients demonstrated

clinically significant improvements in their functional ability scores.

The mean number of days with pain was decreased by half (from 21 to 10 d/mo).

Employed patients (employed patient subgroup analysis) reported

a 30% decrease from baseline in days of work lost.

In all, 8.1% of patients reported adverse events,

the majority of which were minor. Subgroup analyses focusing on pain severity,

stage of chronification, and depression revealed statistically significant

relationships both to baseline measures and to reduction of pain after

acupuncture.

CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture treatment is associated with clinically

relevant improvements in patients suffering from cLBP of varying degrees of

chronification and/or severity.

link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=17237661&query_hl=4&itool=pubmed_docsum