Acupuncture and Hot Flashes

Here’s an interesting piece of new research about Hot Flashes in women with breast cancer that came out of Italy and was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology recently and reported in Reuters.  Click on the links to both articles are below.

Reuters reported the following in their article commenting on the journal HERE.

By the end of the treatments, hot flash scores – the frequency of hot flashes multiplied by their severity – were significantly lower among the women in the acupuncture group.

The enhanced self-care group’s average hot flash score was about 23 at the end of treatment, compared to about 11 in the acupuncture group. The difference would be noticeable, Razzini told Reuters Health in an email.

The difference in hot flash scores between the two groups remained significant three and six months after treatment, the researchers found.

Women who received acupuncture also experienced a better quality of life than those in the enhanced self-care group.

If you would like to read the actual Journal of Clinical Concolog, the link can be found HERE.  A summary of the Journal abstract is below.

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of acupuncture for the management of hot flashes in women with breast cancer.

Results: Of the participants, 105 were randomly assigned to enhanced self-care and 85 to acupuncture plus enhanced self-care. Acupuncture plus enhanced self-care was associated with a significantly lower hot flash score than enhanced self-care at the end of treatment and at 3- and 6-month post-treatment follow-up visits. Acupuncture was also associated with fewer climacteric symptoms and higher quality of life in the vasomotor, physical, and psychosocial dimensions.

Conclusion Acupuncture in association with enhanced self-care is an effective integrative intervention for managing hot flashes and improving quality of life in women with breast cancer.