Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2012, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (27): 2123-2129.

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Improvement in quality of life in depressed patients following verum acupuncture or electroacupuncture plus paroxetine A randomized controlled study of 157 cases

Shenghui Ma1, Shanshan Qu2, Yong Huang2, Junqi Chen2, Renyong Lin2, Chongqi Wang2, Ganlong Li2, Canghuan Zhao3, Shenchang Guo4, Zhangjin Zhang5   

  1. 1 First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
    2 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China
    3 Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Hospital, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, China
    4 Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, Guangzhou 510510, Guangdong Province, China
    5 School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 999077, China
  • Received:2012-03-06 Revised:2012-06-17 Online:2012-09-25 Published:2012-09-25
  • Contact: Yong Huang, Professor, Chief physician, Doctoral supervisor, School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China; Zhangjin Zhang, Associate professor, Doctoral supervisor, School of Chinese Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China nanfanglihuang@163.com; zhangzj@hkucc.hku.hk
  • About author:Shenghui Ma, First Clinical Medical College, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China henghui Ma and Shanshan Qu equally contributed to this work.

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Abstract:

Depressed patients with scores of 17 or more on the 17 items of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were treated with the antidepressant drug paroxetine. They also underwent verum acupuncture or electroacupuncture at Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version showed a significant increase in the total scores of patients who underwent verum acupuncture and electroacupuncture for 6 weeks compared with those who were given paroxetine only; significantly increased physical domain and social relationship scores in verum acupuncture patients compared with paroxetine only; and significantly elevated psychological domain scores with electroacupuncture compared with paroxetine only. These results indicate that both verum acupuncture and electroacupuncture can improve quality of life in depressed patients undergoing paroxetine treatment.

Key words: acupuncture, electroacupuncture, depression, paroxetine, World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version, quality of life, Chinese medicine, neural regeneration