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For those who want to quit smoking, acupuncture may
help curb the desire to smoke, according to a report in the journal Preventive Medicine (Vol. 33: 364-372).
A study by He Dong et al followed 46 participants
for five years. Twenty-six people were given acupuncture treatment at points selected to affect smoking-related organs such
as the lungs, airways, and mouth. The 20 participants in the control group (used for comparison) received acupuncture at points
that were related to skeletal and muscular systems assumed not to have any effect on smoking.
The participants in the test group who were given the strategically
placed treatment reported smoking less and had a decreased desire to smoke. In addition, the blood levels for smoking-related
chemicals were lower for this group than in the control group up to eight months after treatment.
The control group (comparison group) received no lasting
effect from the treatment they were given in terms of reducing their smoking or desire to smoke.
Blood
Tests Keep Them Honest!
Researchers asked the participants how many cigarettes
they smoked. In addition, they measured participants' blood for the concentration of two chemicals: cotinine and thiocyanate,
said lead author He Dong, MSc, physiologist and acupuncturist at the Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine at the University of Oslo, Norway.
"The cotinine concentration reflects the smoking during
the last few days," said He. "The thiocyanate concentration reflects the smoking during the last two to three weeks before
the sample is taken."
"Thus, by measuring both parameters we got an independent
measure of the honesty or possible dishonesty in the subjects' reported smoking," said He.
Treatment
Led to Reduced Smoking or Quitting
The average length of time the participants had smoked
was 23 years, with an average of 10 to 30 cigarettes a day. All participants wanted to quit, and all agreed to use no other
form of smoking cessation during the three-week treatment period. Participants were not told which group they were in.
He and her co-authors found that among the participants
in the test group about a third of them had cotinine concentration similar to that of non-smokers, both right after treatment
and again eight months later. Cotinine levels were not measured at the five-year point.
Adequate Treatment Stressed
The authors note that it is important for acupuncture
to be adequate. Both groups received treatments twice a week, for three weeks — a total of six treatments, in addition
to the self-administered ear acupressure.
"A trained acupuncturist should be able to reproduce the
treatment from our description," He said. "We used treatments on acupoints that are known to affect organs directly influenced
by tobacco smoke like the mouth, throat, airways, and lungs."
Five-year Follow-up Was Ambitious
Two components of the study were important: a long follow-up
period and the use of periodic blood tests for an objective measure of whether participants were smoking, said noted tobacco
control expert, Alan Henderson, DrPH, professor at California State University, Long Beach and a past president of California's division of the American Cancer Society (ACS).
"All too often, participants in studies inadvertently report
compliance to support the study while in some state of non-compliance," said Henderson, who recently was appointed to a committee
for tobacco education by California Gov. Gray Davis. "Wherever possible the methods used by [these] authors should be included
in cessation studies."
Is Cutting Back a Worthy Goal?
This acupuncture study measured not just quitting, but
also the reduction of smoking. Henderson said this approach raises the issue of whether reducing smoking
is a worthwhile goal rather than focusing only on getting smokers to quit.
"We know … those who smoke more, for longer, have
more tobacco-related diseases than those who smoke less, for a shorter period," Henderson said. "And those who don't smoke at all have significantly less disease."
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