American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Volume 198, Issue 2 , Pages 166.e1-166.e8 , February 2008

Acupuncture in patients with dysmenorrhea: a randomized study on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in usual care

Received 28 March 2007 ,Revised 4 May 2007 ,Accepted 24 July 2007.

References 

  1. French L. Dysmenorrhea. Am Fam Physician. 2005;71:285–291
  2. Latthe P, Latthe M, Say L, Gulmezoglu M, Khan KS. WHO systematic review of prevalence of chronic pelvic pain: a neglected reproductive health morbidity. BMC Public Health. 2006;6:177
  3. Burton WN, Morrison A, Wertheimer AI. Pharmaceuticals and worker productivity loss: a critical review of the literature. J Occup Environ Med. 2003;45:610–621
  4. Tramer MR, Moore RA, Reynolds DJ, McQuay HJ. Quantitative estimation of rare adverse events which follow a biological progression: a new model applied to chronic NSAID use. Pain. 2000;85:169–182
  5. Tzafettas J. Painful menstruation. Pediatr Endocrinol Rev. 2006;3(Suppl 1):160–163
  6. White A, Foster NE, Cummings M, Barlas P. Acupuncture treatment for chronic knee pain: a systematic review. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2007;46:384–390
  7. Manheimer E, White A, Berman B, Forys K, Ernst E. Meta-analysis: acupuncture for low back pain. Ann Intern Med. 2005;142:651–663
  8. Ministry of Health. Bundesanzeiger Nr.12 vom 18.Januar 2001: Bekanntmachung einer Änderung der Richtlinien über die Bewertung ärztlicher Untersuchungs- und Behandlungsmethoden gemäβ §135 Abs. 1 Fünftes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB V) (BUB-Richtlinien). Bundesgesundheitsblatt. 2001;685:
  9. Huskisson EC, Scott J. VAS Visuelle Analog-Skalen; auch VAPS Visual Analogue Pain Scales, NRS Numerische Rating-Skalen; Mod. Kategorialskalen. In: Handbuch psychosozialer Meβinstrumente - ein Kompendium für epidemiologische und klinische Forschung zu chronischer Krankheit. Göttingen: Hogrefe; 1993;p. 881–885
  10. Bullinger M, Kirchberger I. SF-36 Fragebogen zum Gesundheitszustand. Göttingen: Hogrefe; 1998;
  11. Brazier J, Roberts J, Deverill M. The estimation of a preference-based measure of health from the SF-36. J Health Econ. 2002;21:271–292
  12. Richardson G, Manca A. Calculation of quality adjusted life years in the published literature: a review of methodology and transparency. Health Econ. 2004;13:1203–1210
  13. Thompson SG, Barber JA. How should cost data in pragmatic randomised trials be analysed?. BMJ. 2000;320:1197–1200
  14. Claxton K. The irrelevance of inference: a decision-making approach to the stochastic evaluation of health care technologies. J Health Econ. 1999;18:341–364
  15. Witt C, Brinkhaus B, Jena S, et al. Acupuncture in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2005;366:136–143
  16. Brinkhaus B, Witt CM, Jena S, et al. Acupuncture in patients with chronic low back pain—a randomised controlled trial. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:450–457
  17. Gerhard I, Abel U, Loewe-Mesch A, Huppmann S, Kuehn JJ. Problems of randomized studies in complementary medicine demonstrated in a study on mistletoe treatment of patients with breast cancer. Forsch Komplementärmed Klass Naturheilkd. 2004;11:150–157
  18. Britton A, McKee M, Black M, McPherson K, Sanderson C, Bain C. Choosing between randomised and non-randomised studies: a systematic review. In: The NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme. 1998;p. 1–124http://www.hta.nhsweb.nhs.uk/ProjectData/3_project 2[13].
  19. Concato J, Shah N, Horwitz RI. Randomized, controlled trials, observational studies, and the hierarchy of research designs. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:1887–1892
  20. Proctor ML, Smith CA, Farquhar CM, Stones RW. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhoea. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;CD002123
  21. Steinberger A. The treatment of dysmenorrhea by acupuncture. Am J Chin Med. 1981;9:57–60
  22. Helms JM. Acupuncture for the management of primary dysmenorrhea. Obstet Gynecol. 1987;69:51–56
  23. Habek D, Cerkez HJ, Bobic-Vukovic M, Vujic B. Efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. Gynakol Geburtshilfliche Rundsch. 2003;43:250–253
  24. White A, Hayhoe S, Hart A, Ernst E. Adverse events following acupuncture: prospective survey of 32 000 consultations with doctors and physiotherapists. BMJ. 2001;323:485–486
  25. MacPherson H, Thomas K, Walters S, Fitter M. The York acupuncture safety study: prospective survey of 34 000 treatments by traditional acupuncturists. BMJ. 2001;323:486–487
  26. Vickers AJ, Rees RW, Zollman CE, et al. Acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care: large, pragmatic, randomised trial. BMJ. 2004;328:744
  27. Witt CM, Jena S, Selim D, et al. Pragmatic randomized trial of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture for chronic low back pain. Am J Epidemiol. 2006;164:487–496
  28. Thomas KJ, MacPherson H, Ratcliffe J, et al. Longer term clinical and economic benefits of offering acupuncture care to patients with chronic low back pain. Health Technol Assess. 2005;9:1–109
  29. Willich SN, Reinhold T, Selim D, Jena S, Brinkhaus B, Witt CM. Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture treatment in patients with chronic neck pain. Pain. 2006;125:107–113
  30. Lothgren M, Zethraeus N. Definition, interpretation and calculation of cost-effectiveness acceptability curves. Health Econ. 2000;9:623–630
  31. Raftery J. NICE: faster access to modern treatments? (Analysis of guidance on health technologies). BMJ. 2001;323:1300–1303

 This study was funded by health insurance companies, including the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), Betriebskrankenkasse (BKK) Aktiv, Bosch BKK, DaimlerChrysler BKK, Bertelsmann BKK, BKK BMW, Siemens-Betriebskrankenkasse (SBK), BKK Deutsche Bank, BKK Hoechst, HypoVereinsbank BKK, Ford BKK, Betriebskrankenkasse der Allianz Gesellschaften, Vereins- und Westbank BKK, Handelskrankenkasse (HKK), and Innungskrankenkasse (IKK) Hamburg.

 Cite this article as: Witt CM, Reinhold T, Brinkhaus B, et al. Acupuncture in patients with dysmenorrhea: a randomized study on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in usual care. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2008;198:166.e1-166.e8.

PII: S0002-9378(07)00920-9

doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2007.07.041

American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Volume 198, Issue 2 , Pages 166.e1-166.e8 , February 2008