RMIT Research examines the effect of Acupuncture on Hayfever

Spring and summer in Melbourne can be a difficult time for hay fever sufferers due to level of pollens and allergens in the air. A study by RMIT published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine found that acupuncture may offer some hope in reducing symptoms. It is important to remember, that although promising, this research has a very small sample size and further research is needed to examine whether this effect is reproducible and repeatable in order to appropriately say that evidence supports the use of acupuncture for hayfever.

Effect of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Charlie Changli Xue, Robert English, Jerry Jiansheng Zhang, Cliff Da Costa and Chun Guang Li
The Chinese Medicine Unit
Department of Statistics and Operations Research
Drug Research and Development Group
RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia

Acupuncture Abstract

The clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the treatment of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis (SAR) was evaluated by employing a two-phase crossover single-blind clinical trial. Thirty subjects were randomly assigned to two groups with 17 and 13 subjects respectively and treated with real or sham acupuncture (three times per week) for four consecutive weeks and then a crossover for treatments for a further four weeks without a washout period. The administration of real acupuncture treatment was guided by a syndrome differentiation according to Chinese Medicine Theory. Subjects were assessed by various criteria before, during and after the treatments. Outcome measures included subjective symptom scores using a five-point scale (FPS), relief medication scores (RMS) and adverse effect records. Twenty six (26) subjects completed the study. There was a significant improvement in FPS (nasal and non-nasal symptoms) between the two types of acupuncture treatments. No significant differences were shown in RMS between the real acupuncture treatment group and the sham acupuncture treatment group. No side effects were observed for both groups. The results indicate that acupuncture is an effective and safe alternative treatment for the management of SAR.

Updated acupuncture research can be found here