دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی ترک سیگار با طب سنتی چینی (TCM) - نشریه الزویر

Abstract

Introduction: Non pharmacologic interventions like counselling and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), have been shown to be effective for smoking cessation. In the present study we wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling in smoking cessation combined with true or sham TCM. Methods: 477 smokers (172 men and 305 women) were randomized into 3 groups: group A (sham TCM and counselling), group B (true TCM and counselling) and group C (true TCM). TCM intervention included pharmacopuncture, plum-blossom needling and auriculotherapy. The main outcome measures were the percentage of non-smokers and the Fagerstrom nicotine addiction score in those still smoking at the end of treatment, and after 6 months and 1 year. Results: At the end of treatment, the percentage of non-smokers was: 57.1% in Group A, 59.1% in Group B, and 49.4% in Group C. After 1 year, the percentage of non-smokers was significantly lower in group C (19.1%)than in groups A (30.1%) and B (32.7%)(p = 0.015). The Fagerstrom testin the subjects still smoking was not significantly different in the 3 groups at the end of treatment and after 1 year. Conclusions: TCM could be an effective treatment for smoking cessation when used as a single technique and especially combined with counselling. Further studies are needed to determine its efficacy

4. Discussion

Our study shows remarkably relevant results in terms of percentage of smoking cessation, also after 1 year of follow-up. In the group with TCM alone (Group C) the percentage of non smokers after 1 year was 20.1%, a result comparable with or better than other data in the literature (Bier 20%,Wu 16,6%)[13,26].When TCM (sham or true) was combined with support group (groups A and B respectively), the percentages of smoking cessation are very high (33.1% and 34.9% respectively). Multimodal interventions are recommended by US and European guidelines for smoking cessation, because their effectiveness is higher than unimodal interventions. These results are in line with the data from other study, like for example Bier [13] who showed a 40% smoking cessation rate after 1 year with acupuncture and psychological treatment. Other authors have shown smaller percentages of success after a combination of pharmacological and psychological treatment: after 1 year of follow-up, Tonnesen showed that non smokers were 25% and had more side effects [27]. These results are consistent even if there is a non significant difference between true and sham TCM. Injection of pharmacologic substances into acupuncture points have been shown to potentiate and prolong their effects up to 3 months after the end of the treatment series [45].