Abstract
With growing use of acupuncture treatment in various clinical conditions, the question
has been posed whether the reported effects reflect specific mechanisms of acupuncture
or whether they represent placebo responses, as they often are similar in effect size
and resemble similarities to placebo analgesia and its mechanisms. We reviewed the
available literature for different placebos (sham procedures) used to control the
acupuncture effects, for moderators and potential biases in respective clinical trials,
and for central and peripheral mechanisms involved that would allow differentiation
of placebo effects from acupuncture and sham acupuncture effects. While the evidence
is still limited, it seems that biological differences exist between a placebo response,
e.g. in placebo analgesia, and analgesic response during acupunture that does not
occur with sham acupuncture. It seems advisable that clinical trials should include
potential biomarkers of acupuncture, e.g. measures of the autonomic nervous system
function to verify that acupuncture and sham acupuncture are different despite similar
clinical effects.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 27, 2010
Accepted:
March 8,
2010
Received:
November 23,
2009
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
