Cumbria Acupuncture Blog

Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jun; 95(24):e3884.

By Zheng H

Abstract

Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) and functional diarrhea (FD) are highly prevalent, and the effectiveness of acupuncture for managing IBS-D and FD is still unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of electro-acupuncture with loperamide. It was a prospective, randomized, parallel group controlled trial. A total of 448 participants were randomly assigned to the He electro-acupuncture group (n = 113), Shu-Mu electro-acupuncture group (n = 111), He-Shu-Mu electro-acupuncture group (n = 112), or loperamide group (n = 112). Participants in the 3 acupuncture groups received 16 sessions of electro-acupuncture during a 4-week treatment phase, whereas participants in the loperamide group received oral loperamide 2 mg thrice daily. The primary outcome was the change from baseline in stool frequency at the end of the 4-weeks treatment. The secondary outcomes were the Bristol scale, the MOS 36-item short form health survey (SF-36), the weekly average number of days with normal defecations and the proportion of adverse events. Stool frequency was significantly reduced at the end of the 4-week treatment in the 4 groups (mean change from baseline, 5.35 times/week). No significant difference was found between the 3 electro-acupuncture groups and the loperamide group in the primary outcome (He vs. loperamide group [mean difference 0.6, 95% CI,-1.2 to 2.4]; Shu-Mu vs. loperamide group [0.4, 95% CI, -1.4 to 2.3]; He-Shu-Mu vs. loperamide group [0.0, 95% CI, -1.8 to 1.8]). Both electro-acupuncture and loperamide significantly improved the mean score of Bristol scale and increased the weekly average number of days with normal defecations and the mean scores of SF-36; they were equivalent in these outcomes. However, the participants in electro-acupuncture groups did not report fewer adverse events than those in the loperamide group. Similar results were found in a subgroup analysis of separating patients with IBS-D and FD patients. Electro-acupuncture is equivalent to loperamide for reducing stool frequency in IBSD and FD patients. Further studies on cost effectiveness of acupuncture are warranted.