Treatment of Headache Disorders With Acupuncture: Observational Study: OBSERVATIONAL STUDY (HDACU)

NCT03250754 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: HDACU-001
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 482
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Headache disorders (HDs), which are characterized by recurrent headache, constitute a public-health problem of enormous proportions, with an impact on both the individual sufferer and society. The stated goals of long-term headache treatment are to reduce the frequency, severity, and disability associated with acute attacks; decrease the reliance on poorly tolerated, ineffective, or unwanted acute pharmacotherapies; and avoid acute headache medication escalation. There is risk for adverse events, leading some patients to refuse prophylactic therapy. Acupuncture is widely used for the treatment of headaches and it may be applied as a single modality as well as part of a more complex treatment program. The objective of this study will be to investigate whether acupuncture in routine clinical practice ((Real World Data) is more effective than treatment of acute migraine attacks or routine care only in reducing headache frequency.

Conditions

Chronic Headache Disorder

Keywords

Acupuncture; Migraine; Tension-type headache

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Number of days with headache per month

  Because the improvements observed were essentially proportional to the headache at study entry, we also calculated the percent reduction of headache days for each patient. Treatment responders were also calculated: a patient with a reduction of ≥ 50% was considered to be a treatment responder.

  At the end of the third month of treatment

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain

  at baseline, 1 month and 3-months

• The change of headache days after 1 month

  at baseline, 1 month and 3-months

• Assessment of satisfaction with treatment

  at baseline, 1 month and 3-months

• Sleep quality assessment

  at baseline, 1 month and 3-months

Study Arms (2)

Pharmacological treatment group

Treatment decision making is based on physician's choice and patient preferences. Patients were referred to the Pain Service Unit. Patients continued with a prophylactic treatment alone

Electroacupuncture group

Treatment decision making is based on physician's choice and patient preferences. Patients were referred to the Pain Service Unit. Patients continued with a new prophylactic treatment and additionally, received 12 sessions of acupuncture. The treatments, which included electro-stimulation.

Device: Electroacupuncture

Interventions

Electroacupuncture DEVICE

Needles on the extremities were stimulated by electro-stimulation device applied by a biphasic pulse generator apparatus at a frequency of pulses alternated between 2 Hz and 100 Hz and the maximum tolerable intensity.

Electroacupuncture group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients with headache disorder, which did not respond to conventional treatment for at least 6 months, referred to the Pain Service Unit were examined to ascertain their eligibility.

You may qualify if:

• Clinical diagnosis of headache (\> 12 months) and at least two headaches per month (Physicians classified patients according to the criteria of the International Headache Society to differentiate between patients with, tension-type headache, trigeminal autonomic cephalgias (cluster headache and Horton's headache), trigeminal neuralgia, occipital neuralgia, cervicogenic headache and post-surgery headache).
• Age ≥ 18 years.

You may not qualify if:

• Headache caused by somatic diseases such as hypertension, meningioma or meningoencephalitis
• Onset of headache less than 1-year before.
• acupuncture treatment less than 1-year before

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hospital Son Llatzer: lead

Study Sites (1)

Son Llàtzer University Hospital

Palma, Balearic Islands, 07198, Spain

Location

Related Publications (14)

• Headache Classification Subcommittee of the International Headache Society. The International Classification of Headache Disorders: 2nd edition. Cephalalgia. 2004;24 Suppl 1:9-160. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2003.00824.x. No abstract available.

  PMID: 14979299 BACKGROUND

• Garcia-Escriva A, Asensio-Asensio M, Lopez-Hernandez N, Gonzalez-Aznar OJ, Oliver-Navarrete C, Alvarez-Sauco M, Pampliega-Perez A. [Health care activity in a headache-specific clinic]. Rev Neurol. 2004 Sep 1-15;39(5):401-5. Spanish.

  PMID: 15378449 BACKGROUND

• Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, Fei Y, Mehring M, Vertosick EA, Vickers A, White AR. Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Jun 28;2016(6):CD001218. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001218.pub3.

  PMID: 27351677 BACKGROUND

• Linde K, Allais G, Brinkhaus B, Fei Y, Mehring M, Shin BC, Vickers A, White AR. Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Apr 19;4(4):CD007587. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD007587.pub2.

  PMID: 27092807 BACKGROUND

• Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Maschino AC, Lewith G, MacPherson H, Foster NE, Sherman KJ, Witt CM, Linde K; Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration. Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2012 Oct 22;172(19):1444-53. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3654.

  PMID: 22965186 BACKGROUND

• Wang LP, Zhang XZ, Guo J, Liu HL, Zhang Y, Liu CZ, Yi JH, Wang LP, Zhao JP, Li SS. Efficacy of acupuncture for acute migraine attack: a multicenter single blinded, randomized controlled trial. Pain Med. 2012 May;13(5):623-30. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2012.01376.x. Epub 2012 Apr 26.

  PMID: 22536889 BACKGROUND

• Li Y, Liang F, Yang X, Tian X, Yan J, Sun G, Chang X, Tang Y, Ma T, Zhou L, Lan L, Yao W, Zou R. Acupuncture for treating acute attacks of migraine: a randomized controlled trial. Headache. 2009 Jun;49(6):805-16. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2009.01424.x. Epub 2009 Apr 27.

  PMID: 19438740 BACKGROUND

• Yang CP, Chang MH, Liu PE, Li TC, Hsieh CL, Hwang KL, Chang HH. Acupuncture versus topiramate in chronic migraine prophylaxis: a randomized clinical trial. Cephalalgia. 2011 Nov;31(15):1510-21. doi: 10.1177/0333102411420585. Epub 2011 Oct 21.

  PMID: 22019576 BACKGROUND

• Coeytaux RR, Kaufman JS, Kaptchuk TJ, Chen W, Miller WC, Callahan LF, Mann JD. A randomized, controlled trial of acupuncture for chronic daily headache. Headache. 2005 Oct;45(9):1113-23. doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2005.00235.x.

  PMID: 16178942 BACKGROUND

• Wonderling D, Vickers AJ, Grieve R, McCarney R. Cost effectiveness analysis of a randomised trial of acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care. BMJ. 2004 Mar 27;328(7442):747. doi: 10.1136/bmj.38033.896505.EB. Epub 2004 Mar 15.

  PMID: 15023830 BACKGROUND

• Witt CM, Reinhold T, Jena S, Brinkhaus B, Willich SN. Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in patients with headache. Cephalalgia. 2008 Apr;28(4):334-45. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01504.x.

  PMID: 18315686 BACKGROUND

• Vandenbroucke JP. When are observational studies as credible as randomised trials? Lancet. 2004 May 22;363(9422):1728-31. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16261-2. No abstract available.

  PMID: 15158638 BACKGROUND

• Concato J, Shah N, Horwitz RI. Randomized, controlled trials, observational studies, and the hierarchy of research designs. N Engl J Med. 2000 Jun 22;342(25):1887-92. doi: 10.1056/NEJM200006223422507.

  PMID: 10861325 BACKGROUND

• von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, Pocock SJ, Gotzsche PC, Vandenbroucke JP; STROBE Initiative. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. Int J Surg. 2014 Dec;12(12):1495-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2014.07.013. Epub 2014 Jul 18.

  PMID: 25046131 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Migraine Disorders; Tension-Type Headache

Interventions

Electroacupuncture

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Headache Disorders, Primary; Headache Disorders; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Combined Modality Therapy; Therapeutics; Acupuncture Therapy; Complementary Therapies; Electric Stimulation Therapy; Physical Therapy Modalities; Rehabilitation; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; Analgesia; Anesthesia and Analgesia; Anesthesia

Study Officials

• Javier Mata, MD

  Son Llatzer University Hospital

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE CONTROL
• Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Chief of Section of Anesthesiology and Reanimation Department

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 11, 2017
• First Posted: August 16, 2017
• Study Start: March 20, 2017
• Primary Completion: July 30, 2017
• Study Completion: April 30, 2018
• Last Updated: November 12, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-11

Locations

ES (1)