Acupuncture for Hypertension: A Tale of Two Trials

Case studies and small trials suggest that acupuncture may effectively treat hypertension, but no large randomized trials have been reported. The Stop Hypertension with the Acupuncture Research Program pilot trial enrolled 192 participants with untreated blood pressure (BP) in the range of 140/90 to 179/109 mm Hg. The design of the trial combined rigor-ous methodology and adherence to principles of traditional Chinese med-icine. Participants were weaned off antihypertensives before enrollment and were then randomly assigned to 3 treatments: individualized tradi-tional Chinese acupuncture, standardized acupuncture at preselected points, or invasive sham acupuncture. Participants received ≤12 acupunc-ture treatments over 6 to 8 weeks. During the first 10 weeks after random assignment, BP was monitored every 14 days, and antihypertensives were prescribed if BP exceeded 180/110 mm Hg. The mean BP decrease from baseline to 10 weeks, the primary end point, did not differ significantly be-tween participants randomly assigned to active (individualized and stan