Clinical observation of acupuncture combined with medication for mild-to-moderate depression

• Published in: Journal of acupuncture and tuina science Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 400 - 409
• Main Authors: Dilinuer, Abulikemu, Ittipalanukul, Penpat, Wu, Pengtao, Hu, Xinyi, Zhang, Aijia, Huang, Yuwei, Che, Ruiqi, Wang, Yi, Hu, Zhihai
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.10.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Anxiety; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Clinical Study; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Proteins; Sleep disorders; Traditional Chinese medicine; A; 焦虑; 针药并用; Depression; Acupuncture Therapy; Randomized Controlled Trial; R246.6; 随机对照试验; 抑郁症; Acupuncture Medication Combined; Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; 针刺疗法; 脑源性神经营养因子; Anxiety
• ISSN: 1672-3597; 1993-0399
• DOI: 10.1007/s11726-024-1460-2

Objective To discuss the clinical efficacy and plausible mechanism of Tiao Yang Qu Xie (regulating Yang to eliminate pathogenic factors) needling method plus paroxetine in treating mild-to-moderate depression. Methods Sixty-six patients with mild-to-moderate depression were divided into an observation group and a control group using the random number table method, each consisting of 33 cases. Another 25 healthy subjects were recruited as a healthy group. The control group took oral paroxetine tablets for treatment, and the observation group received additional acupuncture treatment 3 times weekly. Both groups underwent 4-week treatment. Before treatment, after 2-week and 4-week treatment, and 2 weeks after treatment (follow-up), the patients were assessed using the Hamilton depression scale-17-item (HAMD-17), self-rating depression scale (SDS), self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pattern element identification scale for depression. The two groups each randomly contributed 25 cases to detect the protein content of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) before treatment and after 4-week treatment, and compared with the healthy group. Results After 2-week treatment, the markedly effective and total effective rates were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group ( P <0.05); after 4-week treatment, the observation group significantly surpassed the control group in comparing the markedly effective rate ( P <0.05). After 2 and 4 weeks of treatment and at the follow-up, the HAMD-17 total score and sleep disorder factor score were lower in the observation group than in the control group ( P <0.05); the anxiety-somatic score was lower in the observation group than in the control group after 2-week treatment ( P <0.05). After 2 and 4 weeks of treatment and at the follow-up, the observation group was lower than the control group in comparing the scores of SDS, SAS, and TCM pattern element identification scale for depression ( P <0.05). After 4-week treatment, the observation group had an increased serum BDNF protein content, higher than that in the control group ( P <0.05) and had no significant difference compared to the healthy group ( P >0.05). Conclusion Compared to the use of oral paroxetine alone, acupuncture plus paroxetine can produce more significant efficacy in treating mild-to-moderate depression and act faster in improving sleep disorder and anxiety-somatic symptoms; increasing the serum BDNF protein content may be a part of the mechanism underlying its antidepressant actions.