Acupuncture Treatment Of Post-stroke Depression (PSD) Through Bo's Abdominal Acupuncture And Traditional Acupuncture Methods: A Comparative Study

ObjectiveTo investigate the comparative clinical effect of abdominal acupuncture and body acupuncture on treating Post-stroke Depression (PSD).MethodsSixty patients who suffered from PSD have been selected according to eligible criteria and randomly divided into two equal working groups:1) the study group was administered abdominal acupuncture and,2) the control group was administered body acupuncture treatment, respectively. In the study group, Yin Qi Guo Yuan (i.e., RN-12, RN-10, RN-6 and RN-4) and ST-24 (bilaterally), points were used. In control group, Si Guan (i.e., LI-4 and LR-3, both bilaterally) and GV-20, EX-HN3, points were used. Routine medicine therapy was chosen on the acupuncture basic treatment for two groups.The treatment schedule was 30 minutes per visit,3 visits per week, totally 1 month for a course. For diagnosis and evolution under treatment both Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) and SCL-90 scales were used before as well as after treatment, including the one-month follow-ups. For the result, the HAMD reduction rates were used to evaluate the efficacy and comparing the total HAMD points, SCL-90 scale points in before, after treatment and as well as one-month follow-up of the two groups.Results1. By comparing the data before treatment, there was no significant difference between two groups by gender, age, course of disease and TCM pattern (P>0.05).2. By observing the HAMD reduction rate after treatment, among study group,8 cases were cured; 13 cases were significantly improved; 7 cases were ameliorated; 1 case did not respond to the treatment. The effective rate was 96.56%. Among control group,6 cases were cured; 15 cases were significantly improved; 6 cases were ameliorated; 2 cases did not respond to the treatment. The effective rate was 93.10%. Through Ridit analysis of macro curative effect of the two groups-which were on no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). By observing the HAMD reduction rate in one-month follow-up, among study group,10 cases were cured of the disease; 6 cases were significantly improved; 10 cases were ameliorated; 3 cases did not respond to the treatment. The effective rate was89.65%. Among the control group,9cases were cured of the disease; 9 cases were significantly improved; 8 cases were ameliorated; 3 cases did not respond to the treatment. The effective rate was 89.65%.-which were on a no statistically significant difference (P>0.05),-it emerged that at one-month, the control group is not inferior to the treatment group.3. There was no significant difference between two groups in terms of HAMD and/or SCL-90 scores before treatment. According to statistics, the treatment efficacy of the study group was not superior to the control group (P>0.05). In the one-month follow-up, the HAMD and/or SCL-90 scores of two groups showed a recovery trend compared with the end of treatment, but by observing inter-group comparison, the recovery rate of the study group was not less than the control group (P> 0.05).4. Before treatment, the Barthel index showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups, suggesting that groups were comparable. At the end of treatment, Barthel index score increased significantly compared with before treatment (P<0.01), reflecting a ignificant improvement of dily life activities in both the abdominal acupuncture group and body acupuncture respectively. At the one-month follow-up the Barthel scores had a slightly descendent trend but still significantly superior to those registered at the beginning of acupuncture treatment. Inter-group comparison:the end of treatment, Barthel index scores compared two groups of patients, no statistical significance (P> 0.05), showed the abdominal acupuncture group had higher Barthel index scores than the body acupuncture group.ConclusionsBoth Bo's Abdominal acupuncture therapy and Body acupuncture therapy have a marked therapeutic effect in PSD patients. Bo's Abdominal acupuncture therapy is not superior to Body acupuncture therapy in terms of significant efficiency rate as well as the HAMD score. Abdominal acupuncture therapy is no better than Body acupuncture therapy in maintaining the effect for PSD.