Study shows acupuncture can reduce methadone doses and opioid cravings

For patients with opioid use disorder receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), eight weeks of acupuncture was superior to sham acupuncture in reducing methadone dosage and opioid cravings, according to a study published online July 9. Annals of Internal Medicine.

Liming Lu, MD, PhD, from Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, and colleagues investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture for reducing methadone dosage in a multicenter randomized controlled trial conducted at six MMT clinics in China.

Participants were 65 years of age or younger with opioid use disorder, had been using MMT for at least 6 weeks, and were randomly assigned to receive acupuncture or sham acupuncture three times per week for 8 weeks (60 and 58 participants, respectively).

The researchers found that at week 8, more patients who received acupuncture reduced their methadone dosage by 20% or more than those who received sham acupuncture (62% vs. 29%). Additionally, compared with sham acupuncture, acupuncture was more effective at reducing opioid craving, with a mean difference of −11.7 mm on the visual analog scale.

“Although further studies are needed to measure long-term clinical outcomes and determine how to best incorporate acupuncture into comprehensive substance abuse treatment programs, we believe that these findings support consideration of acupuncture for methadone tapering in individuals receiving MMT,” the authors wrote.

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