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Acupuncture for Mild to Moderate Emotional Complaints in Pregnancy
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A prospective, quasi-randomized, controlled study

ACUPUNCTURE IN MEDICINE 2007 
By Joao Bosco Guerreiro da Silva

Abstract

Background The aim of this study was to describe the effects of acupuncture under real life conditions, in the treatment of emotional complaints during pregnancy.

Methods A group of 51 conventionally treated pregnant women (with counseling by their physicians and nurses) was allocated by chance into two groups to be either treated or not by acupuncture. Both groups (28 in the study group and 23 in the control group) presented emotional complaints such as anxiety, depression and irritability. They reported the severity of symptoms using a Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) from 0 to 10; and they rated how much the symptoms disturbed five aspects of their lives: mood, sleep, relationships, social activities, sexual life and joy of living. Traditional acupuncture was used. In order to facilitate protocols we used pre-programmed points. Up to four points were permitted as optional points.

Results Three women from the acupuncture group and four from the control group dropped out of the study. Over the study period, the NRS scores of intensity of emotional distress decreased by at least half in 15/25 (60%) of patients in the study group and in 5/19 (26%) of those in the control group (P=0.013). The impact of the distress on three out of the five aspects of life was significantly less in the acupuncture group when compared with the control group (P<0.05).

Conclusion Emotional complaints are very common in pregnancy and medication is always a risk. In this study, acupuncture seems to be an efficacious means of reducing symptoms and improving the quality of life of women with emotional complaints during pregnancy. Large randomized studies are recommended to confirm these results.

Keywords
Acupuncture, pregnancy, emotional complaints, anxiety, depression, quasi-randomized controlled trial

Introduction

Emotional disturbances are very common during pregnancy. Often the individual’s character and her display of tenderness change in a subtle way. An inversion in the emotive sphere can occur, making the pregnant woman irritable and aggressive towards her husband and towards those with whom she has closest affinity. Signs of anxiety can be seen that are presented in several forms: as anguish, irritability and dysphoria and with instability of moods, rapidly changing from tears to laughter without and apparent reason. Many women experience tiredness, lethargy, emotional lability, irritability and a reduction of libido in the first three months of pregnancy. These symptoms tend to improve at about the midpoint of the gestational period. Anxiety tends to affect more than 15% of cases, and depression can affect more than 20%. The importance of postnatal depression is well known and widely discussed, but it has been studied less in the prenatal period. Frequently, depression is mild and hence it is not diagnosed, although it can, in some situations, cause unpleasant symptoms. Recent research has even studied the association between depression and preterm births, especially in lower socioeconomic groups, and effects of stressful events on the newborn. However, in some cases, the symptoms can become severe, persistent and sufficiently disabling

Joao Bosco Guerreiro da Silva
Assistant Professor in Acupuncture
Medical School of Saao Jose do Rio Preto
Brazil
jbgsilva@hotmail.com

ACUPUNCTURE IN MEDICINE 2007; 25(3):65-71.
www.acupunctureinmedicine.org.uk/volimdex.php

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