Acupuncture or cupping plus standard care versus standard care in moderate to severe COVID-19 patients: An assessor-blinded, randomized, controlled trial
Reihane Alipour, Saeidreza Jamalimoghadamsiahkali, Mehrdad Karimi, Asma Asadi, Haleh Ghaem, Mohammad Sadegh Adel-Mehraban, Amir Hooman Kazemi
Abstract
Background Non-pharmacological strategies that have been proposed by complementary medical systems, can be effective in management of COVID-19. Methods This study was designed as a three-arm, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial . A total of 139 hospitalized COVID-19 patients were randomly assigned into three groups: (1) acupuncture (ACUG), (2) cupping (CUPG), and (3) control (CTRG). All participants received conventional treatment. The primary study endpoint included changes in respiratory signs including oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) and respiratory rate (RR). The secondary endpoints were COVID-19-related hospitalization duration and serious adverse events such as intensive care unit (ICU) admission, intubation or death, all up to day 30. Also, improvements in cough , dyspnea, chest tightness, oxygen demand, anorexia, headache , weakness , sore throat, and myalgia were evaluated. Results Forty-two patients in ACUG, 44 patients in CUPG, and 42 patients in CTRG completed the trial. After 3 days, SpO 2 and RR improved significantly in CUPG and ACUG compared with CTRG (effect size: 8.49 (6.4 to 10.57) and 8.51 (6.67 to 10.34), respectively: p<0.001). Compared with CTRG, patients in CUPG and ACUG recovered faster (mean difference: 6.58 (4.8 to 8.35) and 9.16 (7.16 to 11.15), respectively) and except for two patients in ACUG who were admitted to ICU, none of patients in ACUG or CUPG needed ICU or intubation (p<0.001 in comparison to CTRG). Amelioration of clinical COVID-19 related symptoms reached a high level of statistical significance in CUPG and ACUG in comparison with CTRG (p<0.01). Conclusion Cupping and acupuncture are promising safe and effective therapies in management of COVID-19. Trial registration: This study was registered at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials : IRCT20201127049504N1 ( https://en.irct.ir/trial/52621 ).