BACKGROUND: Most patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) do not tolerate treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure, the 'gold standard' treatment for this condition. It was shown in a pilot study that acupuncture was more effective than placebo treatment (sham acupuncture) in producing significant changes in the respiratory events assessed by polysomnography (PSG). OBJECTIVES: To investigate the immediate effect of manual acupuncture (MA) and electroacupuncture (EA) on the sleep pattern of patients presenting with moderate OSA. METHODS: 40 patients with an Apnoea-Hypopnoea Index (AHI) of 15-30/h were randomly allocated to MA treatment (n=10), EA 10 Hz treatment (n=10), EA 2 Hz treatment (n=10) and a no-treatment control group (n=10). The patients received MA or EA (2 or 10 Hz) just before the PSG study at 20:00. RESULTS: The AHI (p=0.005; p=0.005), the Apnoea Index (p=0.038; p=0.009) and the respiratory events (p=0.039; p=0.014) decreased significantly in the MA and EA 10 Hz groups, respectively (AHI (21.9, 11.2), Apnoea Index (5.15, 0.7), respiratory events (120.5, 61.0) in the MA group before and after. AHI (20.6, 9.9), Apnoea Index (8.2, 0.3), respiratory events (117.0, 56.0) in the EA 10 Hz group before and after). The micro-arousals decreased only in the MA group (146.0 vs 88.5, p=0.0002). There were no significant changes in the EA 2 Hz group or in the control group. CONCLUSION: A single session of either MA or EA 10 Hz had an acute effect in reducing the AHI as well as the number of nocturnal respiratory events of patients presenting with moderate OSA.
OBJECTIVE: To compare curative effects of acupuncture and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) on obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS), and to explore the characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in treatment of this disease.
METHODS: Sixty-six cases of OSAHS were randomly divided into an acupuncture group (n = 44) treated by acupuncture at Lianquan (CV 23) and Tianrong (SI 17) etc., and a nCPAP group (n = 22) treated by nCPAP. Indexes of respiration, blood oxygen and sleep were monitored before, during and after treatment.
RESULTS: Compared with those before treatment, no significant differences of these indexes were found in the acupuncture group during treatment (P > 0.05), but hypopnea index (HI), apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the maximal apnea duration, the maximal hypopnea duration, sleep time spent when SaO2 was below 90% (SaO2 < 90%T) and the microarousal index improved significantly at the end of treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); while all the indexes improved significantly in the nCPAP group during treatment (P < 0. 01), but the therapeutic effect was not maintained at the end of treatment with no significant difference as compared with those before treatment. The therapeutic effect in the nCPAP group was better than that in the acupuncture group during the treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01), but no significant difference of the therapeutic effect was found between the two groups at the end of treatment (P > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: The therapeutic effect of nCPAP on OSAHS produces during treatment and the therapeutic effect of acupuncture produces after treatment, indicating they possibly have different mechanisms.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), assessed by polysomnography (PSG) and questionnaires of functional quality of life (SF-36) and excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth).
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a randomised, placebo-controlled, single-blinded study, with blinded evaluation on 36 patients presenting an apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) of 15-30/h, assessed by PSG. The study took place at the Public Hospital of the Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil, in the Division of Sleep Disorders of the Department of Psychobiology, between January, 2002 and August, 2004. Patients were randomly assigned to three groups: the acupuncture group (n=12); the sham group, submitted to needle insertion in non-acupoints (n=12); and the control group, receiving no treatment (n=12). Patients received acupuncture or sham acupuncture once a week for 10 weeks.
RESULTS: Twenty-six patients completed the study. The AHI (P=0.005), the apnea index (AI) (P=0.008) and the number of respiratory events (P=0.005) decreased significantly in the acupuncture group but not in the sham group. On the other hand, the control group displayed significant deterioration in some of the polysomnographic parameters, with a significant increase in the number of respiratory events (P=0.025). Acupuncture treatment significantly improved (before vs. after treatment) several dimensions of the SF-36 and Epworth questionnaires. There was no significant association between changes in the body mass index (BMI) and AHI.
CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture in ameliorating the respiratory events of patients presenting with moderate OSAS.
