Key result
Acupuncture plus antihypertensive drugs significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (p=0.001) and improved heart rate variability compared to drugs alone in elderly patients with hypertension.
Why the study?
To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in helping antihypertensive drugs lower hypertension in elderly patients receiving home health care.
Does acupuncture added to antihypertensive drugs reduce blood pressure and improve heart rate variability in elderly patients with hypertension in home health care?
RCT (n=70)
randomly assigned
Yes
Does acupuncture added to antihypertensive drugs reduce blood pressure and improve heart rate variability in elderly patients with hypertension in home health care?
p-value: p=0.001
Acupuncture added to standard antihypertensive therapy significantly lowered systolic blood pressure and improved heart rate variability compared to drugs alone in elderly home health care patients over 12 weeks.
Supports adjunctive acupuncture for SBP reduction in elderly hypertension; extends limited RCT evidence amid equivocal consensus.
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in helping antihypertensive drugs lower the hypertension of elderly patients in home health care. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Setting: Subjects were recruited from Branch of Linsen, Chinese Medicine, and Kunming, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Subjects: A total of 70 participants with hypertension in home health care were assigned randomly to the acupuncture group (35 participants) or the control group (35 participants). Interventions: The acupuncture group received antihypertensive drugs plus acupuncture twice a week for 12 weeks, and the control group received antihypertensive drugs only. Acupuncture points SP10, SP6, LR3, ST36, and LI4 were used bilaterally. Each acupuncture treatment session lasted 30 min. All the subjects were instructed not to alter their diet, physical activity, or use of drugs. Outcome measurements: Blood pressure (BP), heart rate variability, and the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) were assessed at baseline and at 6 and 12 weeks from the baseline between 9 am and 10 am in all subjects. Results: A total of 31 participants in each group completed the study. Within-group differences were observed in systolic BP (SBP) (p < 0.001), diastolic BP (p < 0.001), standard deviation of normal sinus beat intervals (SDNN) (p = 0.01), low frequency (p = 0.05), high frequency (p = 0.01), total power (TP) (p = 0.01), percentage of successive intervals that differ by more than 50 msec (PNN50) (p = 0.01), qi deficiency (p = 0.003), blood stasis (p = 0.02), and qi depression (p = 0.03) constitution. Significant between-group differences were observed in SBP (p = 0.001), SDNN (p = 0.008), and TP (p = 0.04). Conclusions: This study suggested that in the home health care hypertension population, antihypertensive drugs plus acupuncture may be more beneficial in lowering BP and in regulating autonomic nervous system activity than drugs alone. A longer follow-up and larger sample size should be considered in future studies to reveal the precise effect of acupuncture followed by evidence-based practice.
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Huang et al. (2020) conducted an RCT in hypertension (n=70). Acupuncture plus antihypertensive drugs vs. Antihypertensive drugs only was evaluated on Blood pressure, heart rate variability, and the Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ) (p=0.001). Acupuncture plus antihypertensive drugs significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (p=0.001) and improved heart rate variability compared to drugs alone in elderly patients with hypertension.
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