Control of menopause symptoms with acupuncture

Acupuntura en el control de los síntomas de la menopausia

Objective: to establish the effectiveness of acupuncture in controlling menopause symptoms. Materials and Methods: healthy menopausal women aged 48 to 57 years, experiencing menopause-related symptoms, not receiving hormone therapy, were selected. The treatment consisted of 24 acupuncture sessions evaluating symptoms severity using the Kupperman index score before initiation of therapy and at 4 and 8 weeks after undergoing acupuncture therapy. Results: no statistically significant differences were observed in 50 menopausal  women with mean age of 53.4 +/- 3.2 years after 4 and 8 weeks undergoing acupuncture therapy regarding the severity of hot flashes, sweating, sleep disorder, depression, vertigo, headache, arthralgia, palpitations, weakness and vaginal symptoms (p = ns). The mean initial Kupperman index score was 30.6 +/- 4.7, which increased to 32.1 +/- 5.6 at four weeks and then reached a value of 31.1 +/- 4.8 at 8 weeks. No significant differences were demonstrated in the mean scale values at 4 (p = 0.150) and 8 weeks (p = 0.596). Conclusion: acupuncture is not effective in controlling symptoms caused by menopause, so it is not an alternative to hormone replacement therapy.

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