"Stroke Patients Receiving Acupuncture Treatment Show Reduced Risk of Death and Complications"

Jasaeng Spine and Joint Research Institute Announces Cohort Analysis Results of Ischemic Stroke Patients

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A study has found that ischemic stroke (cerebral infarction) patients who receive acupuncture treatment have a reduced risk of death and complications.

The research team led by Korean medicine doctor Choi Seong-ryul from Jaseng Spine and Joint Research Institute utilized the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) database to observe how acupuncture treatment affects mortality and complications in patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke, revealing these results on the 9th.

The team selected 195 patients who received acupuncture treatment and 2,104 control patients who did not receive acupuncture, all diagnosed with ischemic stroke between January 2010 and December 2013. To ensure accurate research and prognosis observation, severe patients who died within one month of onset or acute patients who received acupuncture treatment were excluded.

In the study, the incidence rates of death and major complications were compared between the acupuncture group and the control group using a scale based on the probability of occurrence per 100,000 patients per day. The results showed that the mortality rate was lower in the acupuncture group at 13.6 compared to 25.7 in the control group. The incidence rate of complications was also lower in the acupuncture group (35.7) than in the control group (55.1). Additionally, the incidence rates of specific conditions such as urinary tract infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, and femoral fracture showed similar patterns.

The research team also calculated the Hazard Ratio (HR) for the evaluation indicators of the two groups. The hazard ratio is the risk rate of the experimental group divided by that of the control group; a value less than 1 indicates that the risk in the acupuncture group is lower than in the control group. The acupuncture group showed lower hazard ratios for death (0.32) and complications (0.34) compared to the control group. Notably, urinary tract infection had a hazard ratio of 0.24, showing a significant association.

The hazard ratio tended to decrease as the number of acupuncture treatments increased. The research team interpreted this as acupuncture treatment reducing the incidence of complications caused by ischemic stroke, thereby increasing survival rates. Korean medicine doctor Choi Seong-ryul explained, “This paper is a study demonstrating the effect of acupuncture treatment on ischemic stroke using cohort database data,” adding, “By reflecting the time-dependent characteristics of long-term stroke acupuncture treatment in the study, it will help to more accurately understand the treatment effect.”

The study results were published in the April issue of the SCI(E)-level international journal Healthcare (IF=1.58).

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