Acupuncture for acute treatment of migraine without aura: A randomized clinical trial
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the immediate analgesic efficacy of acupuncture in acute migraine without aura.
BACKGROUND: Patients with acute migraine without aura require prompt relief from headache. Acupuncture has the potential to provide rapid pain relief; however, its analgesic efficacy warrants further validation.
METHODS: We designed a single-blind, sham-controlled, randomized controlled trial and randomly allocated 80 patients with acute migraine without aura to the real acupuncture or the sham acupuncture group at a 1:1 ratio. Both groups received 10 min of real acupuncture or nonpenetrating blunt needling. The primary outcome was the analgesic response rate of patients at 10 min.
RESULTS: This trial was conducted at the Second Affiliated Hospital, Yunnan University of Chinese Medicine from January 2023 to December 2024. All 80 patients provided complete data. At the primary end point of 10 min, the analgesic response rate was 92.5% (37 of 40) in the real acupuncture group compared to 12.5% (5 of 40) in the sham acupuncture group, with a between-group difference of 80.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 64.4%-95.6%; p < 0.001). The real acupuncture group also demonstrated higher response rates from 2 to 8 min (differences ranging from 27.5% to 75.0%, all p < 0.05). At 1 min, the difference was 12.5% (95% CI, -0.2% to 25.2%; p = 0.995). Regarding pain intensity, the real acupuncture group exhibited a greater reduction in pain visual analog scale scores…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 80 participants or records.
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