Clinical effectiveness of acupuncture on Parkinson disease: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Needles on the couch: acupuncture in the treatment of depression, schizophrenia and sleep disorders

Electroacupuncture relieves depression-like symptoms in rats exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress by activating ERK signaling pathway.

Background: Insomnia is commonly associated with chronic health problems. Behavioural and cognitive factors often perpetuate a vicious cycle of anxiety and sleep disturbance, leading to long-term insomnia. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence currently recommends behavioural approaches before prescribing hypnotics. Behavioural approaches aim to treat underlying causes, but are not widely available. Research usually includes patients diagnosed with insomnia rather than secondary, co-morbid sleep- related problems. Aim: To examine the effectiveness of autogenic training (AT) as a non-drug approach to sleep-related problems associated with chronic ill health. Design: Prospective pre- and post-treatment cohort study. Setting: AT centre, Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Methods: All patients referred for AT from April 2007 to April 2008 were invited to participate. Participants received standard 8-week training, with no specific focus on sleep. Sleep questionnaires were administered at four time points, ‘Measure Your Medical Outcome Profile’ (MYMOP) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, before and after treatment. Results before and after treatment were compared. Camden and Islington Community Local Research and Ethics Committee approved the study. Results: The AT course was completed by 153 participants, of whom 73% were identified as having a sleep-related problem. Improvements in sleep patterns included: sleep onset latency (P 50.049), falling asleep quicker after night waking (P ,0.001), feeling more refreshed (P ,0.001) and more energised on waking (P 50.019). MYMOP symptom, well-being, anxiety and depression scores significantly improved (all P ,0.001). Conclusion: This study suggests that AT may improve sleep patterns for patients with various health conditions and reduce anxiety and depression, both of which may result from and cause insomnia. Improvements in sleep patterns occurred despite, or possibly due to, not focusing on sleep during training. AT may provide an approach to insomnia that could be incorporated into primary care.

https://www.autogenic-therapy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/AT-Behavioural-Approach-InsomniaStudy-2011.pdf

Autogenic Training as a behavioural approach to insomnia: a prospective cohort study

Accumulating evidence supports that acupuncture has been successfully used for the treatment of neurological disorders to improve cognitive function. This study was set to evaluate the efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA, using two acupoints: Baihui and Shenting) on clinical symptoms, cognitive function and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in patients with schizophrenia. Sixty-one inpatients diagnosed schizophrenia with DSM-IV criteria were recruited. The participants were randomly divided into an experimental group (n=30) and a control group (n=31). The patients were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) at baseline and after EA treatment. There were no significant differences in the PANSS scores and serum BDNF levels between the experimental group and the control group, either at baseline or at the end of the 4-week study period. However, the EA treatment appeared to have significant benefits on memory and moderate benefits on executive functions and problem solving. Significant positive correlation was observed between the increase of BDNF levels and memory improvement after EA treatment. Our results indicated that EA treatment could improve cognitive function, and the cognitive benefits positively associate with serum BDNF levels in patients with schizophrenia.

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels associate with cognitive improvement in patients with schizophrenia treated with electroacupuncture.

The effect of acupuncture on mood and working memory in patients with depression and schizophrenia

Patients with insomnia frequently use acupuncture as an alternative treatment to pharmacotherapy globally. The aim of this paper is to assess the effect of acupuncture on insomnia. Seven medical databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CNKI, RISS, NDSL, and OASIS, were used to identify studies published through July 09, 2020. Twenty-four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in this qualitative review comparing acupuncture to either pharmacotherapy or sham-acupuncture therapy. Methodological quality was assessed, using the Cochrane risk of bias (ROB). In the subsequent quantitative meta-analysis of studies comparing acupuncture versus pharmacotherapy, fifteen RCTs demonstrated that acupuncture had a significant effect on patients with insomnia as assessed by the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) (RR: -0.74; 95% CI: -1.07 to -0.40; [Formula: see text] i0.0001; [Formula: see text] = 89%; [Formula: see text] = 1475). A subgroup analysis showed that there was no significant effect after weeks 1 and 2, but six studies found that acupuncture had a significant effect insomnia at week 3 (RR: -0.97; 95% CI: -1.65 to -0.28; [Formula: see text] = 0.006; [Formula: see text] = 91%; [Formula: see text] = 463) and nine studies demonstrated a significant effect at week 4 (RR: -0.70; 95% CI: -1.15 to -0.25; [Formula: see text] = 0.002; [Formula: see text] = 85%; [Formula: see text] = 594). These results suggest that insomnia patients may experience significant improvement in symptoms after more than three weeks of acupuncture treatment compared to pharmacological treatments.

Efficacy of Acupuncture for Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

1Research Group of Pain and Neuroscience, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, South Korea. 2Brussels Institute for Applied Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. 3Psychiatric Research Institute, LVR-Klinik Bedburg-Hau, 47511 Bedburg-Hau, Germany. 4Neurology Unit, Laboratory for Cognitive and Neurological Sciences, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland. 5Department of Acupuncture and Meridian of Oriental Medicine, Sang Ji University, Wonju 26339, South Korea. 6Centre for Cognition, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6500 GL Nijmegen, Gelderland, the Netherlands.

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Schizophrenia and comorbid sleep disorders

Clinical roundup: How Do You Treat Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis in Your Practice? Acupuncture

Sir,\n\nWe thank Drs van den Noort et al. (2015) and Fried (2015) for their interest in our study (Miller et al. , 2015) reporting improvement in visual-spatial memory during theta burst deep brain stimulation of the fornix in four individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy, a translational study previously tested in rodents by our team (Sweet et al. , 2014). While echoing our cautionary statements regarding interpretation, Dr Fried (2015) applauded the use of a unique clinical opportunity to provide intriguing preliminary data. Dr van den Noort et al. (2015) describe the study as being ‘highly innovative’, ‘a promising direction for various disorders’ and ‘a pioneering study’, adding that ‘it is a strength that the authors of the present study use neuropsychological tests’. Their group also raised some concerns, so we appreciate this opportunity to respond.\n\nDr van den Noort et al. (2015) stated that ‘stimulation settings were different from previous studies, making comparisons … impossible.’ It would have been ideal to directly …

S. Yeo

Papers

The effect of acupuncture on mood and working memory in patients with depression and schizophrenia

Efficacy of Acupuncture for Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Schizophrenia and comorbid sleep disorders

Clinical roundup: How Do You Treat Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis in Your Practice? Acupuncture

The challenges for research on deep brain stimulation and memory [editiorial]