Effect of acupuncture on Alzheimer\u27s disease in hospitalization - Focusing on behavioral psychological symptoms–

[Objective]Acupuncture for patients with dementia definitely improves cognitive function in vascular dementia (VD) and young cases (mild), effects on Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), cognitive function in severe cases, activity of daily living, and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are mostly uncertain. Accordingly, we report this research where acupuncture was provided for patients with AD requiring hospitalization in a medical institution, which imposes a great burden on patients with dementia, their families, and society, to study the effects of acupuncture on BPSD.[Methods] Non-randomized controlled trial was performed by assigning patients to a group with usual treatment and care (usual treatment group, six cases) and a group treated with acupuncture in addition to the usual treatment and care (acupuncture group, six cases) to observe them separately. Acupuncture was administered about 15 times twice a week over two months. The treatment provided was San Jiao acupuncture (triple energizer acupuncture), which has been reported to be effective as acupuncture for dementia. The primary endpoint was the NPI-Brief Questionnaire Form (NPI-Q). The secondary endpoints were the ABC Dementia Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). These were assessed by the attending nurses at the initial treatment and two months later. the linear mixed model and the post-hoc test based on the Bonferroni correction were used to examine baseline results, main effect of changes from the baseline with time, and interactions.[Results] Comprehensive assessment of severity (NPI-Q) noted no significant difference between the control group and the acupuncture group (interaction) (p = 0.75). A within-group comparison indicated significant improvement in the acupuncture group (p = 0.03). A comprehensive assessment of care burden (NPI-Q) noted no significant difference between the control group and the acupuncture groups (interaction) (p = 0.72). A within-group comparison indicated significant improvement in the acupuncture group (p = 0.04). Among NPI-Q, the psychological symptoms of excitation and depression had improvement or an improving trend in both severity and burden of care (severity: p= 0.04 and p = 0.04, respectively; burden of care: p = 0.03 and p = 0.09, respectively).[Conclusion] It was presumed that needle stimulation or intervention by acupuncturists for AD patients stabilized the psychological aspects of mood and anxiety to alleviate any distress leading to a reduction in BPSD symptoms. In thisstudy, suggesting that acupuncture treatment may be a nondrug therapy option depending on the status of onset of symptoms and severity.明治国際医療大学2021年