Acupuncture For Asthma
Acupuncture For Asthma: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. In the United States, asthma affects more than 22 million persons. It is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood, affecting more than 6 million children .There have been important gains since the release of the first National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) clinical practice guidelines in 1991. For example, the number of deaths due to asthma has declined, even in the face of an increasing prevalence of the disease (NHIS 2005); fewer patients who have asthma report limitations to activities; and an increasing proportion of people who have asthma receive formal patient education (Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2010 midcourse review).
Hospitalization rates have remained relatively stable over the last decade, with lower rates in some age groups but higher rates among young children 0–4 years of age. There is some indication that improved recognition of asthma among young children contributes to these rates. However, the burden of avoidable hospitalizations remains. Collectively, people who have asthma have more than 497,000 hospitalizations annually. Furthermore, ethnic and racial disparities in asthma burden persist, with significant impact on African American and Puerto Rican populations. The challenge remains to help all people who have asthma, particularly those at high risk, receive quality asthma care.
As far as using Acupuncture for Asthma Treatment the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the
National Asthma Education and Prevention Program had this to say.
The Expert Panel does not recommend the use of acupuncture for the treatment of asthma (Evidence B). Acupuncture involves the superficial insertion of thin needles along acupuncture points or acupoints on the body. (Acupressure is an alternative method of stimulating the same acupoints.)
Two Cochrane database systematic reviews (Linde et al. 2000; McCarney et al. 2004) of 7 and 11 randomized trials (with 174 and 324 participants, respectively) using real acupuncture and sham acupuncture to treat asthma or asthma-like symptoms found no statistically significant or clinically relevant effects for acupuncture compared to sham acupuncture. Both reviews concluded that adequate evidence to make recommendations about the value of acupuncture in asthma treatment is lacking. A meta-analysis of 11 RCTs published in the period 1970–2000, comparing real acupuncture with placebo acupuncture, found no evidence of an effect of acupuncture in reducing asthma symptoms (Martin et al. 2002).
Acupuncture For Asthma.