Trial design
Acupuncture, nasal congestion
ADVERSE EVENT, RHINOCONJUNCTIVITIS, EAR, SECONDARY, NOSE
In the clinical pre experiment of the research group, the nasal symptoms (especially nasal congestion) of patients were significantly improved after acupuncture for 3 times. When acupuncture for 7 times, the curative effect reached a stable stage. We designed a single center trial that randomly assigned patients to 2 weeks of IA or Western medicine treatment, and we assessed visual analog scale (VAS) scores as main outcomes and Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality-of-Life Questionnaire (RQLQ) scores as secondary measurements at the end of the first treatment (1 day), at the end of treatment (2 weeks), and 4 weeks after treatment (at 6 weeks) (Fig. Study design. The study was conducted at the Department of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) in the Dongzhimen Hospital Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in China. In this study, the patients were guided to stop taking anti-allergy medications for at least 7 days. After completing the baseline assessment, the patients were randomized into either the intranasal acupuncture group (IAG) or Western medicine group (WMG) and received 2 weeks of IA treatment (because intranasal acupuncture has a direct stimulative effect on the nasal mucosa, it needs self-healing of the mucosa after acupuncture. Acupuncture is selected every other day for a total of 7 times, so the treatment course are 2 weeks) or budesonide nasal spray combined with loratadine tablets (Western medicine). The patients completed all primary and secondary measures at baseline, 2 weeks and 6 weeks. Adverse events were identified during intervention sessions and follow-up interviews.