Continuous Auricular Electroacupuncture Can Significantly Improve Heart Rate Variability and Clinical Scores in Patients with Depression: First Results from a Transcontinental Study

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact and acceptability of providing continuous auricular electroacupuncture as an adjunct to conventional medications for patients with depression. Ten patients with a mean age ± SD of 43.3 ± 10.4 years were able to provide informed consent. The quantitative and qualitative outcome measures were heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and different clinical scores. The study documented that a special kind of auricular electro acupuncture, applied over a period of three days, can improve various aspects of quality of life significantly but also highlighted the significant increase of HRV whilst having acupuncture treatment. In conclusion, our study shows stimulation-related and quantifiable clinical and physiological alterations in parameters after continuous auricular acupoint stimulation in patients with depression. Improved access to electro acupuncture treatment would be of major benefit for these patients. Further studies are necessary in order to verify the gained results.