A Study of Acupuncture for Treating Asthma

Asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease with a low clinical control rate,highlighting the need for novel therapeutic strategies. Recurrent asthma attacksemotional symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, etc. On the contrary, symptoms suchas anxiety and depression worsen asthma control. Acupuncture is commonly applied as aneffective traditional Chinese medical therapy for asthma. Acupoints GV14, BL13 and BL12are adopted for the intervention of asthma. GV20 and GV29 are selected to improveemotional symptoms including depression. Nevertheless, standardized therapeutic regimensof acupuncture for asthma and its concomitant emotional symptoms are still lacking. 180patients with mild to moderate asthma will be recruited in this multicenter randomizedcontrolled trial, randomly assigned to the true acupuncture group, sham acupuncture groupand usual care group. The primary outcome is the score of the Asthma Control Test (ACT).Secondary outcomes include the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), AsthmaQuality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), pulmonary function, and fractional exhaled nitricoxide (FeNO). The superiority of combined acupuncture therapy in improving asthmacontrol, relieving negative emotions, and enhancing quality of life is to be verified inthis study, with high quality evidence for acupuncture treatment of asthma thereby to beprovided.