Preliminary clinical study of electroacupuncture at Quchi and Shangjuxu for functional constipation

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of electroacupuncture at Quchi and Shangjuxu in the treatment of functional constipation. METHODS: Fifty-four patients with functional constipation meeting the Rome III criteria were randomly divided into an electroacupuncture group (37 cases) and a control group (17 cases). The electroacupuncture group received electroacupuncture at bilateral Quchi and Shangjuxu for 4 weeks, 5 sessions per week in the first two weeks and 3 sessions per week in the last two weeks; the control group took oral mosapride citrate tablets, 5 mg three times a day, for 4 consecutive weeks. Patients were observed for 9 weeks in total: a 1-week baseline period before treatment, 4 weeks of treatment and 4 weeks of follow-up. A patient diary card was used to record the daily number of spontaneous bowel movements, stool consistency and degree of defecation difficulty for each bowel movement, and the Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life questionnaire (PAC-QOL) was used to assess quality of life at baseline, during treatment (end of weeks 2 and 4) and at follow-up (end of week 8). The primary outcome was the weekly number of spontaneous bowel movements; secondary outcomes included the weekly proportion of normal-consistency stools, the weekly proportion of straining and severe straining, and PAC-QOL scores. RESULTS: In every week of the treatment and follow-up periods, the electroacupuncture group showed an increase in spontaneous bowel movements, a higher proportion of normal-consistency stools, a lower proportion of straining and severe straining, and improved PAC-QOL total and dimension scores, all statistically significant compared with before treatment (P<0.05). Differences between the electroacupuncture and control groups were not statistically significant for any outcome (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Electroacupuncture at Quchi and Shangjuxu is an effective method for treating functional constipation; it can increase the frequency of defecation, improve stool quality, relieve defecation difficulty and improve constipation-related quality of life. Its efficacy did not differ from that of oral mosapride citrate.