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. 2020 Aug 7;99(32):e21345.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000021345.

Acupuncture reduced the medical expenditure in migraine patients: Real-world data of a 10-year national cohort study

Sheng-Ta Tsai  1   2 , Chun-Hung Tseng  1   3 , Mei-Chen Lin  2   4 , Hsien-Yin Liao  2   5 , Boon-Khai Teoh  2 , Shao San  6 , Chon-Haw Tsai  1   3 , Hung-Yu Huang  1 , Yi-Wen Lin  2   7
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Acupuncture reduced the medical expenditure in migraine patients: Real-world data of a 10-year national cohort study

Sheng-Ta Tsai et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Objectives: According to the data of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, almost all the countries got increased medical expenditures in these years. Among the diseases, migraine is a condition that affects predominantly young and middle-aged people. It results in great economic losses. So we perform this research to investigate the acupuncture effect of reducing medical expenditure and medical resources use.

Perspective: Acupuncture is a non-pharmacologic treatment and it became popular in recent years. In Taiwan, about 13% migraine patients visited acupuncture doctor. We hypothesized that the acupuncture had the additional effect than the medical treatment.

Setting: We analysed the economic cost and medical visits in the real word.

Methods: We used national cohort data from Taiwan, retrospectively gathered between 2000 and 2010. We selected newly diagnosed migraine patients who were diagnosed by registered neurologists formally licensed by the Taiwan Neurological Society. We divided these patients into two groups: with and without acupuncture treatment. The main outcome was medical expenditures and visits within 1 year after acupuncture.

Results: In migraine patients who received acupuncture treatment, medical expenditures on emergency care and hospitalization were significantly lower than the group without acupuncture treatment.

Conclusion: According to our real-world data, acupuncture can reduce the medical expenditure in migraine patients within 1 year after diagnosis. For the health policy maker, it is cost effective to encourage combining acupuncture and western medicine to treat migraine patients. For the doctors in routine clinical practice, who may consider to consult acupuncture doctors to deal with the migraine patients together.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Research algorism in our study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Brief illustration of Foot Shaoyang meridian (= Gallbladder meridian, GB meridian).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Brief illustration of Hand Shaoyang meridian (=Triple Energizer Meridian, TE meridian).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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