Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine for menopausal mood disorder: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of acupuncture combined with Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on mood disorder symptoms for menopausal women.

Methods

A total of 95 qualified Chinese participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 31 in the acupuncture combined with CHM group (combined group), 32 in the acupuncture combined with CHM placebo group (acupuncture group) and 32 in the CHM combined with sham acupuncture group (CHM group). The patients were treated for 8 weeks and followed up for 4 weeks. The data were collected using the Greene Climacteric Scale (GCS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and safety index.

Results

The three groups each showed significant decreases in the GCS, SDS and SAS after treatment (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the effect on the GCS total score and the anxiety domain lasted until the follow-up period in the combined group (p < 0.05). Within the three groups, there was no difference in GCS and SAS between the three groups after treatment (p > 0.05). However, the combined group showed significant improvement in the SDS, compared with both the acupuncture group and the CHM group at 8 weeks and 12 weeks (p < 0.05). No obvious abnormal cases were found in any of the safety indexes.

Conclusions

The results suggest that either acupuncture, or CHM or combined therapy offer safe improvement of mood disorder symptoms for menopausal women. However, the combination therapy was associated with more stable effects in the follow-up period and a superior effect on improving depression symptoms.

摘要

目的：分析针灸联合中药（CHM）治疗绝经女性情绪障碍的疗效。

方法：将符合条件的95名中国受试者随机分为3组：针灸联合中药组31例（联合组）, 针灸联合中药安慰剂组32例（针灸组）, 中医联合假针灸组32例（中药组）。治疗8周, 随访4周。收集格林斯更年期量表(GCS)、抑郁自评量表(SDS)、焦虑自评量表(SAS)和安全性指标。

结果：3组治疗后GCS、SDS、SAS评分均较治疗前显著降低(P<0.05)。此外, 联合组对GCS总分和焦虑维度的影响持续到随访期(p<0.05)。三组间治疗后GCS、SAS评分无差异 (P>0.05)。治疗8周、12周时, 联合组SDS评分与针灸组、中药组相比改善更明显 (P<0.05)。各项安全性指标均未发现明显异常。

结论：针灸、中药或联合疗法均能安全地改善绝经女性的情绪障碍。然而, 联合治疗在随访期内的效果更稳定, 在改善抑郁症状方面效果更好。

Keywords:

• Acupuncture
• Chinese herbal medicine
• mood disorder
• menopause

Acknowledgements

The authors extend their thanks to all participants in this study. They would also like to thank Benjamin Ross for editing the language in our article. Additionally, the authors thank the medical doctors and nurses at Guangdong Hospital of Chinese Medicine for their help in data acquisition for this study.

Potential conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [No. 2022A1515011651], [No. 2021A1515220139]; State Key Laboratory of Dampness Syndrome at the Chinese Medicine Research Foundation [No. SZ2021KF06]; Research Fund for Bajian Talent at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine [No. BJ2022KY09]; Specific Research Fund for TCM Science and Technology at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine [No. YN2019MJ15].