Association between acupuncture applied during menstruation and change
of menstrual cycle among female patients: a prospective study in
Northern China
Abstract
Background: Previous studies demonstrated that acupuncture is a safe
treatment in general population, however, the safety of acupuncture
during menstruation remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate
the safety of acupuncture during menstruation, using change of menstrual
cycle as primary outcome. Methods: women who were going to receive at
least 12 times acupuncture in the coming one month regardless of
diagnosis, and experienced at least one menstruation during the period
were recruited from four hospitals in Northern China from March 2017 to
March 2018. Patients were followed up 3 menstrual cycles since
acupuncture treatment, and data was collected through a questionnaire at
baseline and 3 follow-up visits. Chi-square tests and logistic
regression were used to test the associations between timing of
acupuncture and change of menstrual cycle. Result: there were 373 female
patients included in analysis, of which 208(55.8%) had acupuncture
during menstruation(AM group) and 165(44.2%) did not(NM group). Nearly
one fifth(68, 18.2%) of all patients experienced a change in menstrual
cycle. The percentage of patients with changed menstrual cycle in AM
group(19.7%) was higher than that of NM group(16.4%), but the
difference was not significant(OR 1.254, 95% CI 0.647 to 2.431,
P=0.503) when adjusted for age, history of menstrual cycle and diagnose.
Conclusion: This study indicated that the rate of menstrual cycle change
did not differ among patients who received acupuncture during
menstruation or not. However, the interpretation and conclusion of the
results should be cautious due to the limitations of the study. Key
Words: acupuncture, timing, menstrual cycle change, adverse events,
safety