A study the media ignored: Acupuncture and BP

Stop Hypertension With the Acupuncture Research Program (SHARP): Results of a Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial.

The November issue of the medical journal Hypertension reported on the results of a large, carefully conducted, randomized clinical trial on acupuncture. The trial was designed to combine rigorous methodology and close adherence to the principle of traditional Chinese medicine. Nearly 200 people with high blood pressure were randomized to have standardized acupuncture at preselected points, individualized traditional Chinese acupuncture, or sham acupuncture (needle puncture at non-acupuncture sites).

It found that acupuncture was no more effective in reducing hypertension (high blood pressure) than a sham procedure.

The researchers were unable to find any patient subgroup, based on age, race, gender, baseline blood pressure or other factors where acupuncture was more effective.

“Acupuncture is receiving a number of proofs of inadequacy,” wrote Dr. Norman M. Kaplan of the University of Texas at Dallas. “The money and effort expended in this trial should save even more wasted money and ineffectual effort.”