More than one in 10 men experience chronic prostatitis, with frustrating symptoms including pain, urinary problems and sexual dysfunction. Chronic prostatitis / pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS) is the most common form of prostatitis – and the most challenging to treat, since it often has no identifiable cause (unlike acute or chronic bacterial prostatitis).
Researchers performed a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial at 10 tertiary hospitals in China. Participants included 440 men with moderate to severe chronic prostatitis / CPPS, randomized equally into an acupuncture group and a sham group for comparison.
Over the eight-week study period, participants received 20 sessions of active or sham acupuncture, with responders "defined as participants who achieved a clinically important reduction of at least 6 points from baseline on the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index at weeks 8 and 32."
At week eight, 60.6 percent of the acupuncture group were classified as responders vs. only 36.8 percent in the sham group. Improvements in the acupuncture group were maintained after 24 weeks of follow-up (following eight weeks of treatment), with 61.5 percent classified as responders. By week 32, only 28.3 percent of sham-group participants were classified as responders. The study required between-group differences in treatment response to be significant at both time points (weeks eight and 32) as a condition of "sustained efficacy."
Source
- Sun Y, et al. Efficacy of acupuncture for chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Ann Intern Med, 2021 Aug. 17 (published online ahead of print).
Acupuncture Today editorial staff members research, investigate and write articles for the publication on an ongoing basis. To contact the Editorial Department or submit an article of your own for consideration, email mailto:
.