AUTHOR=Pei Juan Hui , Gan Feng , Bai Yun He , Xing Yan Lin , Jia Jian Jun , Wang Huan 

TITLE=Instant and short-term effects of acupuncture for depression and anxiety in unstable angina pectoris patients with percutaneous coronary interventions

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1173080

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2024.1173080

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Aim</title><p>Patients with unstable angina pectoris (UAP) usually present anxiety or depression during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). This study sought to investigate the instant and short-term effects of acupuncture for anxiety and depression in UAP patients with PCI.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A total of 210 UAP patients who underwent PCI were recruited and randomly assigned (1:1:1) to acupuncture, placebo, or control groups. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the levels of fasting glucose, fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), interleukin-6 (IL-6), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (Hs-CRP), advanced oxidation protein products (AoPPs), and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OX-LDL). Serial questionnaires with the Hamilton Anxiety (HAMA) scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were evaluated, and heart rate variability indicators were obtained.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Primary end-point: low frequency/high frequency (HF) was lower in the electroacupuncture group (<italic>p</italic> = 0.014), while standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals, average standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals, percentage of successive intervals that differ more than 50 ms, and HF were increased with acupuncture (<italic>p</italic> = 0.018, <italic>p</italic> = 0.043, <italic>p</italic> = 0.016, and <italic>p</italic> = 0.002, respectively). Secondary end-point: significant improvements in anxiety levels (HAMA) were observed in the three groups (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). The fasting insulin and HOMA-IR levels were similar between the control group and the acupuncture group (<italic>p</italic> = 0.285 and <italic>p</italic> = 0.165, respectively). The levels of IL-6 and AoPPs differed among the three groups (<italic>p</italic> = 0.021 and <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, respectively). However, no significant differences were found in fasting plasma glucose, fasting c-peptide, Hs-CRP, and OX-LDL levels among the three groups (<italic>p</italic> = 0.585, <italic>p</italic> = 0.611, <italic>p</italic> = 0.902, and <italic>p</italic> = 0.756, respectively).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>In this study, short-term acupuncture may potentially relieve clinical symptoms before PCI treatment.
</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical Trial Registration</title><p><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://ClinicalTrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link>, identifier (NCT03789344).</p></sec>