Acupuncture was no more effective than sham acupuncture in reducing migraine headaches.

Acupuncture is widely used to prevent migraine attacks, but the available evidence of its benefit was scarce.

German investigators compared the effectiveness of acupuncture with sham acupuncture and with no acupuncture in patients with migraine.

A total of 302 patients, 88% women, mean age of 43 years, with migraine headaches ( according to International Headache Society criteria ), were enrolled.

Between baseline and weeks 9 to 12, the mean number of days with headache of moderate or severe intensity decreased by 2.2 days from a baseline of 5.2 days in the acupuncture group compared with a decrease to 2.2 days from a baseline of 5.0 days in the sham acupuncture group, and by 0.8 days from a baseline of 5.4 days in the waiting list group.

No difference was detected between the acupuncture and the sham acupuncture groups while there was a difference between the acupuncture group compared with the waiting list group ( 1.4 days; P<.001).

The proportion of responders ( reduction in headache days by at least 50% ) was 51% in the acupuncture group, 53% in the sham acupuncture group, and 15% in the waiting list group.

Source: Jama, 2005


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