Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 515
To evaluate, from patients’ independent reports, the risks associated with acupuncture treatment provided by traditional acupuncturists.
In a large-scale prospective national survey, 9408 patients of 638 British Acupuncture Council practitioners consented to receive a questionnaire 3 months later. In this questionnaire patients were asked to report direct to the research centre on all acupuncture-related adverse events occurring during the 3 months, including events resulting from taking advice about medication and from delayed conventional diagnosis and treatment.
Three-month questionnaires were returned by 6348 (67%) patients who reported 682 adverse events, 107 per 1000 patients over 3 months (95% CI 100–115), associated with 30 196 treatments. The two most common adverse events were severe tiredness/exhaustion, and prolonged/unacceptable pain at needle sites. Remarkably, only 40 patients (6 per 1000, 95% CI 5–9) were unwilling to have acupuncture again. Three patients reported their adverse events as serious, either ‘life-threatening’ or resulting in admission to hospital (0.4 per 1000, 95% CI 0.2–1.4). Six patients (0.9 per 1000, 95% CI 0.4–2.1) experienced a worsening of symptoms after taking advice on medication. Two patients (0.3 per 1000, 95% CI 0–1.1) reported receiving delayed conventional treatment.
In this survey, patient-reported serious adverse events were rare, as were adverse consequences associated with medication advice or delayed conventional treatment. There is no a priori reason to expect response bias relating to reporting. Over 99% of patients who experienced any adverse event were willing to have acupuncture again.
