The Correlation Analysis between Heart Rate Variability and Effect of Acupuncture on Obese Women

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the effects of acupuncture treatment and heart rate variability (HRV) in pre-menopausal obese women. Methods Thirty-seven obese women who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. To estimate the effects of acupuncture, obesity indices, such as body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), and the waist-hip ratio (WHR), were measured before and after the treatment. The HRV test was conducted before treatment and analyzed using the frequency domain method. Results The lnLF/HF ratio (natural logarithm of low frequency power/high frequency power ratio of the HRV value) before treatments was negatively correlated with differences in WC, HC, and WHR during treatment. The correlation coefficients between the lnLF/HF ratio and the differences in WC, HC, and WHR were r=−0.459 (p＜0.01), r=−0.327 (p＜0.05), and r=−0.339 (p＜0.05) respectively. Conclusions As the baseline ratio of sympathetic activity to parasympathetic activity decreases, WC, HC, and WHR reduction significantly increased during treatment. Further study is needed to uncover the relationship between obesity-related variables and the autonomic nervous system to predict the effect of acupuncture. (J Korean Med Rehabil 2016;26(4):85-96)

Study of Latest Trend on Acupuncture for Obesity Treatment

“…In total, two clinical trials compared the effects of combined manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture with the sham acupuncture group. Kim et al [ 8 ] analyzed the effects of acupuncture on obesity through analysis of heart rate variability and InLF/HF after manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture treatment. There was one study using auricular acupuncture.…”