Laser acupuncture protocol for essential systemic arterial hypertension: randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVES: to evaluate the efficacy of a laser acupuncture protocol developed and applied by nurses in arterial hypertension patients. METHOD: randomized, multicenter, triple-blind and two-armed clinical trial. The sample consisted of 102 participants, 51 per arm, both sexes, aged between 30 and 75 years, undergoing drug therapy for a year or more, with difficulty to control blood pressure, maintaining regular measures >140x90 mmHg. Participants underwent six standard or simulated laser-acupuncture sessions, for 24 minutes, within a period of six weeks. Descriptive analyzes expressed as frequencies of occurrences, means and medians were used, and analysis of the association between variables was performed using Student’s t-test and Anova, using Statistica(®) software, version 12.0. The significance level was set at 5% (alpha=0.05). The comparison between blood pressure measurements was performed using Student’s t-test for paired samples and Anova for repeated measures. RESULTS: a significant reduction in systolic (p<0.001) and diastolic (p<0.001) blood pressure was observed among participants in the intervention arm, which was not observed in the simulation arm. CONCLUSION: the results have demonstrated the efficacy of the protocol. Reduction and control of blood pressure have been demonstrated, indicating the possibility of using this technology for the care of patientes with essential systemic arterial hypertension. Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials. UTN: U1111-1177-1811. Clinical Trials NCT02530853.