A Clinical Study of Integrating Acupuncture and Western Medicine in Treating Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Complementary therapy with acupuncture for Parkinson's disease (PD) has been studied for quite a long time, but the effectiveness of the treatment still remains unclear. The aim of this study is to evaluate the integrated effects of acupuncture treatment in PD patients who received western medicine. In the short-term acupuncture treatment study, 20 patients received acupuncture therapy twice a week in acupoints DU 20, GB 20, LI 11, LI 10, LI 4, GB 31, ST 32, GB 34 and GB 38 along with western medicine for 18 weeks, and 20 controlled patients received western medicine only. In the long-term acupuncture treatment, 13 patients received acupuncture treatment twice a week for 36 weeks. The outcome parameters include Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory-Version 2 (BDI-II), and WHO quality of life (WHOQOL). In the short-term clinical trial, a higher percentage of patients in the acupuncture group had score improvement in UPDRS total scores (55% vs. 15%, p = 0.019), sub-score of mind, behavior and mood (85% vs. 25%, p < 0.001), activity of daily living (65% vs. 15%, p = 0.003), mobility (40% vs. 15%, p = 0.155) and complication of treatment (75% vs. 15%, p < 0.001), BDI-II score (85% vs. 35%, p = 0.003), and WHOQOL score (65% vs. 15%, p = 0.003) when compared to control group at the end of the 18 weeks' follow up. After 36 weeks of long-term acupuncture treatment, the mean UPDRS total scores and sub-score of mentation, behavior and mood, sub-score of complications of therapy and BDI-II score decreased significantly when compared to the pretreatment baseline. In conclusion, acupuncture treatment had integrated effects in reducing symptoms and signs of mind, behavior, mood, complications of therapy and depression in PD patients who received Western medicine.