Effect of Jin-3-needling therapy on plasma corticosteroid, adrenocorticotrophic hormone and platelet 5-HT levels in patients with generalized anxiety disorder

What Was Tested

This clinical trial paper looks at ACTH (Corticotropin).

Who Took Part

The study group was 29 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

Eighty-six GAD patients with the diagnosis agreeing with the inclusion criteria were assigned, according to the sequence of visiting time, to three groups.

The 29 patients in the Western medicine group were treated mainly with fluoxetine or paroxetine, Alprazolam might be given additionally in severe conditions if necessary; the 29 patients in the needling group received J3N therapy with Sishenzhen, Dingshenzhen, Neiguan (PC6), Shenmen (HT7) and Sanyinjiao (SP6) as the chief acupoints selected; and the 28 patients in the combined treatment group were treated with both drugs and needling in the same way as applied in the above two groups.

How the Study Was Run

The therapeutic course for all was 6 weeks.

Conditions of patients were evaluated before and after treatment with CGI, and levels of CS, ACTH as well as 5-HT were measured by high performance liquid chromatography-electrochemistry.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Acupuncture Therapy, Adrenal Cortex Hormones, Adrenocorticotropic Hormone, Anxiety Disorders, Blood Platelets, Patient Dropouts and Serotonin.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of ACTH (Corticotropin) in 29 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2007 (Chinese journal of integrative medicine), a journal based in China.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page, all human trials.