Comparison of effectiveness of acupuncture therapy and conventional drug therapy on psychological profile of migraine patien.
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Date
2014-01
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Abstract
Migraine is a painful condition in which patients suffer from recurrent episodes of disabling pain, which could
be very severe and can lead to grave psychological disturbances. There is no curative treatment for migraine,
but there are various treatment modalities, though, with conflicting reports on their efficacy. This study was
conducted to compare the effectiveness of electro acupuncture therapy and the conventional drug therapy
on the psychological profile of migraneurs based on the assessment of quality of life and disability parameters.
Migraneurs (n=60) were recruited from the Psychiatry and Neurology OPD, Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital,
Delhi. Following a written consent, migraneurs were randomly allocated into 2 study groups – Group A
received 10 sittings of electro acupuncture on selected acupuncture points over a period of 30 days, while
for the same duration the Group D received a conventional drug therapy in the form of oral flunarizine 20
mg OD along with paracetamol 500 mg SOS. The patients were assessed twice, before and after completion
of the treatment programme (30 days). The quality of life was assessed with WHOQOL BREF (WHO Quality
of Life Biomedical Research and Education Foundation) questionnaire and the disability was assessed with
MIDAS (Migraine Disability Assessment) questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using repeated
measure’s ANOVA with Tukey’s test. Migraneurs were found to have lower quality of life and higher disability
scores but following the treatment regimes, the 2 study groups showed a significant improvement in both
the parameters studied. It was however observed, that the acupuncture group showed a better response and
was thus found to be more effective as compared to the drug group (P=0.005 to 0.000). We thus conclude
that acupuncture is a better treatment option than the conventional drug therapy in not only relieving the pain
of migraine but in also improving the psychological profile in migraneurs. Hence its use should be encouraged
as an alternative/adjunct treatment for migraine.
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l Vijayalakshmi, N Shankar, A Saxena, Bhatia M S. Comparison of effectiveness of acupuncture therapy and conventional drug therapy on psychological profile of migraine patien. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. 2014 Jan-Mar; 58(1): 69-76.