Authors
Deering, Brenda MFullen, Brona
Egan, Claire
McCormack, Niamh
Kelly, Emer
Pender, Mary
Costello, Richard W
Affiliation
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Beaumont Hospital and the associated, Education and Research Centre, University College of Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.Issue Date
2012-02-01T10:04:49Z
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev. 2011 Nov;31(6):392-9.Journal
Journal of cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and preventionDOI
10.1097/HCR.0b013e31822f0f61PubMed ID
21979114Abstract
PURPOSE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation and by both systemic and airway inflammation. In COPD, acupuncture has been shown to improve quality-of-life scores and decrease breathlessness; similar findings have also been reported after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). The hypothesis of this study was that acupuncture in conjunction with pulmonary rehabilitation would improve COPD outcome measures compared to pulmonary rehabilitation alone. METHODS: The design was a randomized prospective study; all subjects had COPD. There were 19 controls, 25 who underwent PR, and 16 who had both acupuncture and PR. The primary outcome measure was a change in measures of systemic inflammation at the end of PR and at 3 month followup. Lung function, including maximum inspiratory pressure (PiMax), quality-of-life scores, functional capacity including steps taken, dyspnea scores, and exercise capacity, were secondary endpoints. RESULTS: After PR, both groups had significantly improved quality-of-life scores, reduced dyspnea scores, improved exercise capacity, and PiMax, but no change in measures of systemic inflammation compared with the controls. There were no differences in most of the outcome measures between the 2 treatment groups except that subjects who had both acupuncture and PR remained less breathless for a longer period. CONCLUSION: The addition of acupuncture to PR did not add significant benefit in most of the outcomes measured.Language
engISSN
1932-751X (Electronic)1932-7501 (Linking)
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1097/HCR.0b013e31822f0f61