Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture Combined with Levodopa in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease： A Randomized Controlled Trial
10.13288/j.11-2166/r.2025.14.009
- VernacularTitle:针刺联合左旋多巴治疗帕金森病临床疗效和安全性的随机对照试验
- Author:
Jingyun ZHU
1
;
Xiyan GAO
2
;
Linlin WANG
1
;
Zhixin REN
1
;
Guiling WANG
3
;
Jing GUO
3
;
Yanrong WU
1
Author Information
1. The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University，Zhengzhou，450014
2. Henan University of Chinese Medicine
3. Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine，Capital Medical University
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Parkinson's disease;
acupuncture;
levodopa;
motor function;
non-motor symptoms;
depression;
quality of life
- From:
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine
2025;66(14):1456-1462
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture combined with levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's disease（PD）. MethodsA total of 60 patients with PD were enrolled and randomly assigned to test group or control group， with 30 patients in each group. The control group received levodopa only， starting at 100 mg per dose， three times daily， with gradual increases not exceeding a maximum daily dose of 800 mg. The test group received acupuncture three times per week in addition to levodopa. Both groups were treated for 12 weeks. Assessments were conducted before treatment， after 6 and 12 weeks treatment， using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale（UPDRS）， Wearing-Off Questionnaire-9（WOQ-9）， Montreal Cognitive Assessment（MoCA）， Mini-Mental State Examination（MMSE）， Depression Rating Scale（DRS）， Hamilton Depression Scale（HAMD）， Hamilton Anxiety Scale（HAMA）， PD Questionnaire-39（PDQ-39）， and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index（PSQI）. Repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to evaluate the effects of time， group， and their interaction on each index. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between combined treatment and outcome scores. Adverse events in both groups were recorded throughout the study. ResultsBoth groups showed significant improvements after 6 and 12 weeks treatment， with decreases in UPDRS total score， WOQ-9 total score， DRS score， HAMD score， HAMA score， PDQ-39 score， and PSQI score， and increases in MoCA and MMSE scores（P＜0.05）. Compared with the control group， the test group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in all the above indicators after 6 and 12 weeks （P＜0.05）. Repeated measures ANOVA showed significant time main effects， group main effects， and their interaction across all outcome measures（P＜0.01）. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that combined therapy was significantly negatively correlated with UPDRS， WOQ-9， DRS， HAMD， HAMA， PDQ-39， and PSQI scores， while positively correlated with MoCA and MMSE scores after 12 weeks of treatment（P＜0.05）. Both groups did not experience any serious adverse events and did not affect treatment. ConclusionAcupuncture combined with levodopa is more effective than levodopa alone in improving motor function， non-motor symptoms， cognitive function， depression and anxiety， quality of life， and sleep quality in patients with PD， with good safety.
