Expectancy after the first treatment and response to acupuncture for menopausal hot flashes

Ee, Carolyn; Thuraisingam, Sharmala; Pirotta, Marie; French, Simon; Xue, Charlie Changli; Teede, Helena

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186966

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…However, there was no link between expectations and change in hot flush scores. These results align with a previous study on acupuncture for hot flushes, in which expectations were also not predictive of symptom change 40 . After taking 4 weeks of placebo, patients were randomized again; this time to either continue or discontinue the OLP treatment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Open-label placebos for menopausal hot flushes: a randomized controlled trial

Pan

Meister

Löwe

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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This study investigated the efficacy of an open-label placebo (OLP) treatment for menopausal hot flushes. Women with at least five moderate or severe hot flushes per day were allocated to receive four weeks of OLP for twice a day or no-treatment. Intention-to-treat analyses included n = 100 women. In comparison to no-treatment, OLP reduced the log-transformed hot flush composite score (frequency × intensity) (mean difference in change: − 0.32, 95% CI [− 0.43; − 0.21], p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.86), hot flush frequency (− 1.12 [− 1.81; − 0.43], p = 0.02, Cohen’s d = 0.51), and improved overall menopause-related quality of life (− 2.53 [− 4.17; − 0.89], p = 0.02, Cohen’s d = 0.49). Twelve (24%) (vs. three [6%]) patients had 50% lesser hot flushes. Problem rating of hot flushes and subdomains of quality of life did not improve. After four weeks, the OLP group was further divided via randomization to continue or discontinue the treatment. Benefits were maintained at week 8 (log-transformed score: − 0.04 [− 0.06; 0.14], p = 0.45). There was no difference between taking placebos for 8 or 4 weeks (log-transformed score: 0.04 [− 0.17; 0.25], p = 0.73). Results indicate that open-label placebos may be an effective, safe alternative for menopausal hot flushes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Open-label placebos for menopausal hot flushes: a randomized controlled trial

Pan

Meister

Löwe

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Acupuncture is a Chinese medical intervention that involves placing small metal needles in specific areas of the body. [ 97 ] It is not yet clear how this method works but it is widely accepted as a safe treatment. [ 98 ] In traditional Chinese medicine, it is said that acupuncture reduces pain and cures symptoms by regulating meridian energy (Qi).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the role of herbal medicine, acupressure, and acupuncture in the menopausal symptoms: An evidence-based systematic review study

Ebrahimi

Tayebi

Ahmadinezhad

et al. 2020

J Family Med Prim Care

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Background: Menopause is an important physiological phenomenon in women's lives. Women's concern about taking the hormone treatment to ease menopausal symptoms is increasing. Over the past decade, the use of complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of menopausal problems instead of hormone therapy has increased. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the role of herbal medicine, acupressure, and acupuncture in the menopausal symptoms. Methods: Data source: related articles were searched from internal scientific databases and external databases of “Web of Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed, Science Direct, Ovid, and Google scholar.” Study Eligibility Criteria: The keywords such as menopause, menopausal symptoms, complementary menopausal medicine, acupuncture in menopause, herbal medicine in menopause, and acupuncture in menopause were searched in the studies from 1987 to 2019. Exclusion criteria were inadequate information in the study, lack of access to full-text articles, animal studies, and reports. At the end of the search, 145 articles out of a total of 400 articles were reviewed. Results: In various studies, different herbs such as licorice, valerian, soy, sage, ginseng, etc., were used to improve menopausal symptoms. In addition, acupuncture and acupressure were used to reduce menopausal symptoms. Conclusion: The efficacy and use of complementary and alternative medicine, along with other classical medicine care, can be a new model for improving menopausal symptoms in women. It is recommended that further clinical and review studies be conducted to develop complementary and alternative medicine.

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“…Several new RCTs studying on the relationship between patients expectation and acupuncture responses have been published in recent 5 years. [ 14 , 15 ] It is worth to perform a new systematic review or possible meta-analysis to detect whether patients’ expectation will influence on acupuncture outcomes. We sincerely hope that we will provide more evidence to estimate the placebo effect of acupuncture by this review.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does patient's expectation benefit acupuncture treatment?

Yang

Zou³

et al. 2021

Medicine

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Background: Patients’ expectation to treatment response is one source of placebo effects. A number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reported that expectation benefits to acupuncture treatment, while some did not. Previous systematic reviews failed to draw a confirmative conclusion due to the methodological heterogeneity. It is necessary to conduct a new systematic review to find out whether expectation can influence acupuncture outcomes. Methods: We systematically search English and Chinese databases from their inception to 3rd October, 2020, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP). RCTs that evaluated the relationship between expectation and treatment response following acupuncture for adults will be included. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment will be conducted independently. Risk of bias will be assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool. Data synthesis will be performed by Review Manager (RevMan) software if the data is suitable for synthesis. Results: This systematic review will provide evidence that whether patients’ expectation impacts on the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. This protocol will be performed and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items from Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement. The findings of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Conclusion: This systematic review aims to assess whether a higher level of patient's expectation contributes to a better outcome after acupuncture treatment, and in which medical condition this contribution will be more significant. INPLASY registration number: INPLASY2020100020 on International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols.

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Expectancy after the first treatment and response to acupuncture for menopausal hot flashes

Cited by 5 publications

References 49 publications

Open-label placebos for menopausal hot flushes: a randomized controlled trial

Open-label placebos for menopausal hot flushes: a randomized controlled trial

Investigation of the role of herbal medicine, acupressure, and acupuncture in the menopausal symptoms: An evidence-based systematic review study

Does patient's expectation benefit acupuncture treatment?

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