Acupuncture can significantly reduce the risk of stroke associated with rheumatoid arthritis. This appears to be due to a reduction in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are known to be associated with cardiovascular disease.
A new study involving experts from China Medical University Hospital examined whether acupuncture can reduce the risk of ischemic stroke in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The results are published in the specialist journal “BMJ Open”.
Risk of stroke in rheumatoid arthritis
Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in people with rheumatoid arthritis and it is known that those affected have an increased risk of stroke compared to the general population, the researchers report.
To determine the effects of acupuncture on this stroke risk, national medical records of 47,809 participants from the Registry for Catastrophic Illness Patients Database (RCIPD) were evaluated. The participants had rheumatoid arthritis between 1997 and 2010.
Acupuncture with over 12,000 participants
The final analysis included 23,226 participants with complete data, of whom 12,266 were ultimately treated with acupuncture after their diagnosis by the end of December 2010, according to the experts. The remaining participants served as a control group.
According to the researchers, there were more women than men in both groups and many participants suffered from high blood pressure.
Of the participants in the acupuncture group, 87 percent were treated with manual acupuncture, three percent with electroacupuncture and ten percent with a combination of both methods, the team explains.
On average, 1,065 days passed between the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and the first acupuncture treatment and the average number of treatments was ten. According to the researchers, a total of 946 participants suffered an ischemic stroke during the observation period.
In general, the risk of ischemic stroke in participants with high blood pressure was more than twice as high as in participants with normal blood pressure, and participants with diabetes had a 58 percent increased risk compared to people without diabetes, the team reports.
43 percent reduced risk
The experts noticed that significantly fewer ischemic strokes occurred in the group of participants treated with acupuncture. There were only 341 cases of ischemic strokes in the acupuncture group compared to 605 in the control group. According to the researchers, this corresponds to a risk reduction of 43 percent.
However, since this is an observational study, no clear conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, the researchers explain.
However, inflammation is a consistent and independent predictor of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis, and acupuncture may exert its beneficial effect by reducing pro-inflammatory proteins, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease including ischemic stroke, experts said.
Furthermore, unstable blood pressure and lipid profiles are significant risk factors for an ischemic stroke, and acupuncture therapy has the advantage of being effective against both high blood pressure and dyslipidemia, the researchers explain in a press release.
If acupuncture relieves morning stiffness and joint pain, people may also benefit from increasing their daily activity, which also reduces the risk of stroke, the team adds. (as)
