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Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease mediated by an immune response to central nervous system antigens. Modern immunomodulatory therapies, however, do not ameliorate many of the symptoms, such as pain and depression. Patients thus seek alternative treatments, such as a...

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Autores principales: Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G, Damasceno, Alfredo, von Glehn, Felipe, Brandão, Carlos O, Damasceno, Benito P, Silveira, Wanderley D, Santos, Leonilda MB
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23126260
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-12-209
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author Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G
Damasceno, Alfredo
von Glehn, Felipe
Brandão, Carlos O
Damasceno, Benito P
Silveira, Wanderley D
Santos, Leonilda MB
author_facet Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G
Damasceno, Alfredo
von Glehn, Felipe
Brandão, Carlos O
Damasceno, Benito P
Silveira, Wanderley D
Santos, Leonilda MB
author_sort Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease mediated by an immune response to central nervous system antigens. Modern immunomodulatory therapies, however, do not ameliorate many of the symptoms, such as pain and depression. Patients thus seek alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, although the benefits of such treatments have not been objectively evaluated. The present study was thus designed to evaluate the effect of the use of acupuncture in the alleviation of the symptoms of patients with MS. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis undergoing treatment with immunomodulators were randomly distributed into sex-stratified experimental and placebo groups in a patient- and evaluator-blind design; they received either true or sham electroacupuncture during regular visits to the doctor in the university hospital outpatient clinic. Standardized questionnaires were used to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture on the quality of life of these patients. Initial and follow-up assessment included the evaluation of clinical status (Expanded Disability Status Scale), pain (Visual Analogue Scale) and quality of life (Functional Assessment of multiple Sclerosis) to ascertain the impact of electroacupuncture on the quality of life of these patients. RESULTS: Electroacupuncture improved various aspects of quality of life, including a reduction in pain and depression. The self-report scales were more sensitive to improvement than was the more objective clinical measure. CONCLUSION: This paper provides evidence that electroacupuncture can significantly improve the quality of life of such patients. The results suggest that the routine use of a self-report scale evaluating quality of life should be included in regular clinical evaluations in order to detect changes more rapidly. TRIAL REGISTRATION: RBR-58yq52
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spelling pubmed-35658902013-02-11 Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G Damasceno, Alfredo von Glehn, Felipe Brandão, Carlos O Damasceno, Benito P Silveira, Wanderley D Santos, Leonilda MB BMC Complement Altern Med Research Article BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease mediated by an immune response to central nervous system antigens. Modern immunomodulatory therapies, however, do not ameliorate many of the symptoms, such as pain and depression. Patients thus seek alternative treatments, such as acupuncture, although the benefits of such treatments have not been objectively evaluated. The present study was thus designed to evaluate the effect of the use of acupuncture in the alleviation of the symptoms of patients with MS. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis undergoing treatment with immunomodulators were randomly distributed into sex-stratified experimental and placebo groups in a patient- and evaluator-blind design; they received either true or sham electroacupuncture during regular visits to the doctor in the university hospital outpatient clinic. Standardized questionnaires were used to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture on the quality of life of these patients. Initial and follow-up assessment included the evaluation of clinical status (Expanded Disability Status Scale), pain (Visual Analogue Scale) and quality of life (Functional Assessment of multiple Sclerosis) to ascertain the impact of electroacupuncture on the quality of life of these patients. RESULTS: Electroacupuncture improved various aspects of quality of life, including a reduction in pain and depression. The self-report scales were more sensitive to improvement than was the more objective clinical measure. CONCLUSION: This paper provides evidence that electroacupuncture can significantly improve the quality of life of such patients. The results suggest that the routine use of a self-report scale evaluating quality of life should be included in regular clinical evaluations in order to detect changes more rapidly. TRIAL REGISTRATION: RBR-58yq52 BioMed Central 2012-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC3565890/ /pubmed/23126260 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-12-209 Text en Copyright ©2012 Quispe-Cabanillas et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Quispe-Cabanillas, Juan G
Damasceno, Alfredo
von Glehn, Felipe
Brandão, Carlos O
Damasceno, Benito P
Silveira, Wanderley D
Santos, Leonilda MB
Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title_full Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title_fullStr Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title_full_unstemmed Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title_short Impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: A randomized study
title_sort impact of electroacupuncture on quality of life for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis under treatment with immunomodulators: a randomized study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565890/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23126260
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-12-209
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