FRIDAY, Feb. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who receive acupuncture have a lower risk of ischemic stroke, a study published online Feb. 13 shows. This was revealed in the published research results. BMJ Open.
Chia-Yu Huang and colleagues at Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital in Taiwan conducted a propensity score-matched cohort of 23,226 patients with newly diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2010. conducted research. The acupuncture cohort included patients who: I received acupuncture treatment from the first day I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis until December 31, 2010. The non-acupuncture cohort included patients who did not receive acupuncture during the same period.
The researchers found that the cumulative incidence of ischemic stroke was lower in the acupuncture cohort. At the end of the study, 341 and 605 patients in the acupuncture and non-acupuncture groups, respectively, experienced ischemic stroke (5.95 and 12.4 per 1,000 person-years, respectively; adjusted subhazard ratio 0.57). . The reduction in ischemic stroke incidence was independent of gender, age, type of drug used, and comorbidities.
“Our study shows that acupuncture may reduce the risk of ischemic stroke in Taiwanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis,” the authors wrote. “Possible mechanisms include acupuncture-induced reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may reduce cardiovascular disease, including ischemic stroke.”
Summary/Full text
