Acupuncture point injection treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea: a randomised, double blind, controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if injection of vitamin K3 in an acupuncture point is optimal for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea, when compared with 2 other injection treatments. SETTING: A Menstrual Disorder Centre at a public hospital in Shanghai, China. PARTICIPANTS: Chinese women aged 14-25 years with severe primary dysmenorrhoea for at least 6 months not relieved by any other treatment were recruited. Exclusion criteria were the use of oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices or anticoagulant drugs, pregnancy, history of abdominal surgery, participation in other therapies for pain and diagnosis of secondary dysmenorrhoea. Eighty patients with primary dysmenorrhoea, as defined on a 4-grade scale, completed the study. Two patients withdrew after randomisation. INTERVENTIONS: A double-blind, double-dummy, randomised controlled trial compared vitamin K3 acupuncture point injection to saline acupuncture point injection and vitamin K3 deep muscle injection. Patients in each group received 3 injections at a single treatment visit. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the difference in subjective perception of pain as measured by an 11 unit Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). Secondary measurements were Cox Pain Intensity and Duration scales and the consumption of analgesic tablets before and after treatment and during 6 following cycles. RESULTS: Patients in all 3 groups experienced pain relief from the injection treatments. Differences in NRS measured mean pain scores between the 2 active control groups were less than 1 unit (-0.71, CI -1.37 to -0.05) and not significant, but the differences in average scores between the treatment hypothesised to be optimal and both active control groups (1.11, CI 0.45 to 1.78) and (1.82, CI 1.45 to 2.49) were statistically significant in adjusted mixed-effects models. Menstrual distress and use of analgesics were diminished for 6 months post-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture point injection of vitamin K3 relieves menstrual pain rapidly and is a useful treatment in an urban outpatient clinic. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT00104546; Results.

Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation: a randomized controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Traditional Chinese medicine uses moxibustion (burning herbs to stimulate acupuncture points) of acupoint BL 67 (Zhiyin, located beside the outer corner of the fifth toenail), to promote version of fetuses in breech presentation. Its effect may be through increasing fetal activity. However, no randomized controlled trial has evaluated the efficacy of this therapy. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of moxibustion on acupoint BL 67 to increase fetal activity and correct breech presentation. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled, open clinical trial. SETTING: Outpatient departments of the Women's Hospital of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, and Jiujiang Women's and Children's Hospital in the People's Republic of China. PATIENTS: Primigravidas in the 33rd week of gestation with normal pregnancy and an ultrasound diagnosis of breech presentation. INTERVENTIONS: The 130 subjects randomized to the intervention group received stimulation of acupoint BL 67 by moxa (Japanese term for Artemisia vulgaris) rolls for 7 days, with treatment for an additional 7 days if the fetus persisted in the breech presentation. The 130 subjects randomized to the control group received routine care but no interventions for breech presentation. Subjects with persistent breech presentation after 2 weeks of treatment could undergo external cephalic version anytime between 35 weeks' gestation and delivery. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fetal movements counted by the mother during 1 hour each day for 1 week; number of cephalic presentations during the 35th week and at delivery. RESULTS: The intervention group experienced a mean of 48.45 fetal movements vs 35.35 in the control group (P<.001; 95% confidence interval [CI] for difference, 10.56-15.60). During the 35th week of gestation, 98 (75.4%) of 130 fetuses in the intervention group were cephalic vs 62 (47.7%) of 130 fetuses in the control group (P<.001; relative risk [RR], 1.58; 95% CI, 1.29-1.94). Despite the fact that 24 subjects in the control group and 1 subject in the intervention group underwent external cephalic version, 98 (75.4%) of the 130 fetuses in the intervention group were cephalic at birth vs 81 (62.3%) of the 130 fetuses in the control group (P = .02; RR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.02-1.43). CONCLUSION: Among primigravidas with breech presentation during the 33rd week of gestation, moxibustion for 1 to 2 weeks increased fetal activity during the treatment period and cephalic presentation after the treatment period and at delivery.

[AIDS: knowledge, attitudes and sex behavior of young people attending AIED family planning health services]. / AIDS: conoscenze, attitudini e comportamenti sessuali di giovani utenti dei consultori familiari AIED.

PIP: A research group of the G. Sanarelli Institute of La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, conducted a survey on the knowledge, attitudes, and sexual behavior of young people at 14 family planning counseling centers of the Italian Association of Demographic Education (AIED). Data were collected by means of an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire containing 70 questions during the 12-month period from March 1, 1995 to February 29, 1996. Respondents were 19-24 years old. The purpose was to gain information about AIDS-related risk behavior. A total of 1085 questionnaires were collected representing the views of 978 women (90.1%) and 107 men (9.9%) with an average age of 21.9 years for the women and 21.7 years for the men. For 84% of the females and 78% of males, the source of information about AIDS was television; for 61% of males and 59% of females it was daily newspapers; and only 33% of men and 40% of women obtained such information from school. The average score of accurate knowledge about the transmission of HIV was 78% vs. 75.6% of a national sample. The respondents were more sexually active than the subjects of the national sample. 96% of males and 91% of females had experienced sexual intercourse; the average age of sexual debut was 17.7 years for males and 18.0 years for females, with an average of 4.2 partners for males and 3.0 partners for females. 6% of males had sex with prostitutes (16% in the national sample), while some women had had bisexuals (4%) or drug addicts (6.5%) as partners. The practice of anal sex was above the national average (29% for males and 24% for females). 73% of males and 79% of females always used condoms with casual sexual partners, but only 20% of males and 15% of females used condoms with steady partners.^ieng

Moxibustion for correction of breech presentation: a clinical study with retrospective control.

In this study we treated a group of women during pregnancy by moxibustion on point 67 B (Zhiyin), to obtain inversion of fetuses in breech presentation. Comparison is made with a control group drawn retrospectively from clinical files at a regional hospital. The aim of the study is to identify the ideal population (in terms of parity and gestational age) to be included in a randomized controlled trial.

Moxibustion and breech presentation: preliminary results.

Moxibustion at the Zhiyin acupuncture point (67 B) is an ancient method of obtaining the version of abnormal presentation of the fetus during the last three months of pregnancy. The authors reviewed the Chinese references on this subject and stressed the importance of parity and gestational age in testing the efficacy of this therapy. Preliminary results are described and compared with those reported in Chinese articles. Success rates in version by moxibustion versus spontaneous version are also compared.