The ACUFLASH Study: Acupuncture Reduces Hot Flashes by 50%
By Drew Nesbitt BA, TCMP, Ac., ROHP • Filed under Menopause Relief • October 13, 2009
This 2009 randomised, controlled trial was published in the Journal of the North American Menopause Society. It studied the effects of acupuncture on hot flashes in menopausal women and concluded that “The overall reduction in hot flash frequency was 48% among women who received acupuncture, compared with a 28% reduction in the control group.”
Participants within this study were experiencing an average of 7 hot flashes every 24 hours consecutively for 7 days. The study group received 10 acupuncture sessions plus advice on self-care versus the control group who received self-care alone.
The results indicated that the acupuncture group experienced a significant decrease in both the frequency (5.8 less flashes in a 24 hour period, a reduction of 48%) and severity (down 3.2 units) compared to the control group concluding that “acupuncture plus self-care can contribute to a clinically relevant reduction in hot flashes and increased health-related quality of life in postmenopausal women”. It is also worthy to note that the acupuncture group experienced an improvement in the quality of their sleep, most likely due to the reduction in nocturnal hot flashes.
“The Acupuncture on Hot Flushes Among Menopausal Women (ACUFLASH) study, a randomized controlled trial. Menopause: The Journal of The North American Menopause Society, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 484/493, 2009
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