Effect of acupuncture on ischemic stroke patients with hypertension: a randomized clinical trail

Background Limited evidence suggests that acupuncture has a short-term antihypertensive effect. The efficacy and safety of acupuncture as an adjunctive treatment for ischemic stroke patients with hypertension were uncertain. Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in reducing stroke recurrence and improving blood pressure for stroke patients with hypertension. Design Multicenter randomized, controlled trial. Methods 18 centers from September 2015 to January 2020. 480 stroke participants with hypertension were randomized into adjunctive acupuncture group and basic treatment group to complete a 12-week treatment. The primary outcome was the one-year recurrence of stroke and the secondary outcome in 48-week follow-up included blood pressure, the Traditional Chinese Medicine syndrome score, the Short Form 36-item Health Survey, the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, the Barthel Index scale, the ultrasound doppler, and serum tests. Results There were no statistical differences between groups in primary outcome ( p = 0.63 > 0.05). After 12-week treatment, adjunctive acupuncture group: (1) showed a higher participant proportion of dipper diastolic blood pressure pattern ( p = 0.01 < 0.05); (2) had a better score on the Short Form 36-item Health Survey ( p < 0.001); (3) decreased the vascular resistance of Right Internal Carotid Artery ( p = 0.03 < 0 0.05). Conclusion Adjunctive acupuncture therapy can improve stroke patients’ circadian rhythm, carotid blood flow, and quality of life, but may not have a superior effect on reducing one-year stroke recurrence. Clinical trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT02967484.