Positive Health Online

Abstract

BERMAN and colleagues, Complementary Medicine Program, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21207 USA studied the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) .

Background

Methodology

The authors searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Manual Therapy Information System, the Cochrane Registry, University of Maryland Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Pain, Centralized Information Service for Complementary Medicine and the National Institutes of Health Office of Alternative Medicine databases using the keywords acupuncture and fibromyalgia. Abstracts from conferences, citation lists and letters supplemented the search. All randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials, or cohort studies of patients with FMS who were treated with acupuncture were selected, and quality of methodology, sample characteristics, type of acupuncture treatment and outcomes were extracted. Due to the differences in control groups, statistic pooling was not performed.

Results

Of the 7 studies which were included in this analysis (3 randomised controlled trials and 4 cohort studies), only 1 was of high methodological quality. The high-quality study suggested that real acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture for relieving pin, increasing pain thresholds, improving global ratings and reducing morning stiffness of FMS; however, the duration of benefit following acupuncture treatment is unknown. There was some patients who reported no benefit; a few patients reported an exacerbation of FMS-related pain. The lower-quality studies were consistent with these results. Booster doses of acupuncture which were administered after the regular acupuncture treatment had stopped were described anecdotally, but not investigated using controlled trials.

Conclusion

The limited high-quality evidence obtained suggests that real acupuncture is more effective than sham acupuncture for improving the symptoms of patients with FMS. Further high-quality randomised trials are needed to provide more robust data regarding effectiveness.

References

Berman BM et al. Is acupuncture effective in the treatment of fibromyalgia? J Fam Pract 48(3): 213-8. Mar 1999.