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NCT Number: NCT02765581

Efficacy Study of Acupuncture in the Prevention of Migraine Without Aura

Acupuncture is commonly used for the prevention of migraine, while the evidence for its efficacy is still uncertain. Current studies have not been able to determine whether the efficacy of acupuncture is due to the actual therapeutic effect of acupuncture, or a result of psychological benefits. To address this issue, we designed a clinical trial to evaluate the prophylactic efficacy of acupuncture for migraine without aura (MWoA). Furthermore, we will evaluate the impact of Chinese medicine factors and psychological factors on the efficacy of acupuncture.

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Key information

Conditions

Migraine Without Aura Brain Diseases Central Nervous System Diseases Headache Disorders Headache Disorders, Primary Migraine Disorders Nervous System Diseases

Age range

15 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Department of Neurology of Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Wuhan, Hubei, China

About this study

This is a multicentre, stratified, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial. 150 eligible participants will be randomly allocated into verum acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or usual care groups, in a 2:2:1 ratio. The verum acupuncture group will receive twenty verum acupuncture treatments over an eight-week period, while the sham acupuncture group will receive sham acupuncture treatments with non-penetrating needling. Participants assigned to the usual care group are scheduled to receive twenty verum acupuncture treatments for free after waiting 24 weeks. Health education will be provided to participants in the three groups. The primary outcomes will be the changes in the mean number of migraine days and migraine attacks per four-week cycle. The secondary outcomes will be as follows: the proportion of responders, migraine intensity, migraine disability assessment questionnaire, health-related and sleep-related quality of life, the dose of intake of acute medication. Chinese medicine factors will include de qi sensations and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) constitution. Psychological outcomes will include anxiety, depression, personality, expectancy about acupuncture, and doctor-patient relationship. The central randomization and data collection will be conducted by an electronic data management system.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Diagnosed as migraine without aura according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders,3rd edition beta version (ICHD-3β);
  • Aged between 15 and 65 years old, with initial onset of migraines before the age of 50 years; and
  • Experienced migraine attacks for at least 1 year; and
  • Experienced migraine attacks with 2-8 times per month during the last 3 months and baseline period, and the duration of migraine attacks lasting 4-72h without intake of acute drugs or at least 2h with intake of acute drugs; and
  • the mean headache Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores 4-8 at baseline; and
  • Had not taken any acupuncture treatment before study entry; and
  • Able to complete the baseline headache diary; and
  • Able to signing a informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

  • Tension-type headache, cluster headache, and other primary headache disorders, secondary headache disorders, neuralgia of the face or head; and
  • Combined with cardiovascular, liver, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, blood system and other serious primary diseases affecting the implementation of treatment programs, or combined with epilepsy, Parkinson or other nervous system diseases; and
  • Patients with severe mental illness, such as severe anxiety and depression; and
  • Pregnant women, women in lactation, and those planning to become pregnant; and
  • Participation in other clinical trials; and
  • Illiterate, or patients unable to read and understand scales;
  • Have experience of acupuncture.

Treatment and study plan

Verum acupuncture

Device

The main acupuncture points are bilateral "Hegu" (L14) and "Taichong" (LR3), unilateral "Taiyang"(EX-HN5), "Fengchi" (GB20) and "Shuaigu" (GB8). Additional points can be chosen according to individual syndrome differentiation of meridians: (1) Yangming headache: Touwei (ST8); (2) Taiyang headache: Tianzhu (BL10); (3) Jueying: Baihui" (GV20). The NO.16 special type of acupuncture (0.30 x 30 mm) produced by German asia-med company will be applied.The needles will be inserted into the skin of acupuncture points and manipulated manually by using the techniques such as lifting, thrusting, and twirling, until the internal compound sensation known as deqi.

Sham acupuncture

Device

We use a non-insertive sham control produced by Asia-med Company in Germany-the streitberger placebo-needle. Sham points are described as follows: 1) Bilateral of midpoint between acupoint "Jianjin"(GB21) and "Jugu"(LI16); 2) 5 cun lateral to the seventh thoracic spine; 3) 5 cun lateral to the eighth thoracic spine; 4) 5 cun lateral to the ninth thoracic spine. Cun is a distance measure unit used in locating acupoints in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) acupuncture, and the width of patient's thumb interphalangeal joint is regarded as one cun.

Usual Care

Behavioral

Health education is provided in three aspects: lifestyle changes, behavioral therapies and migraine self-management.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in the number of migraine days

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the mean number of migraine days per 4-week cycle

  2. Change in the frequency of migraine attacks

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the mean number of migraine attacks per 4-week cycle

Secondary outcomes

  1. The proportion of responders

    Time frame: At weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction of the number of migraine days

  2. Change in visual analogue scale

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the mean visual analogue scale scores per 4-week cycle

  3. Change in Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the scores of Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2) per 4-week cycle

  4. Change in Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire(MIDAS).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the scores of Migraine Disability Assessment questionnaire(MIDAS)

  5. Change in Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire(MSQ) Version 2.1.

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the scores of Migraine-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire(MSQ) per 4-week cycle

  6. Change in 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the scores of 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36) per 4-week cycle

  7. Change in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the scores of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI) per 4-week cycle

  8. Change in the dose of intake of acute medication.

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 1-4 after randomization, weeks 5-8 after randomization, weeks 9-12 after randomization, weeks 13-16 after randomization, and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    The changes in the dose of intake of acute medication per 4-week cycle

Other outcomes

  1. The Chinese Version of the Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale

    Time frame: Immediately following each session of acupuncture treatment.

    Acupuncture sensations will be measured by the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Acupuncture Sensation Scale (MASS)

  2. Change in Beck Anxiety Inventory(BAI).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

  3. Change in Beck Depression Inventory II(BDI- II).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

  4. 60-item NEO Personality Inventory-Short Form (NEO-FFI)

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization) only once.

  5. Chinese medicine constitution classification

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

    Patients' Chinese medicine constitution classification will be measured by the score obtained from Constitution in Chinese Medicine Questionnaire (CCMQ)

  6. Acupuncture Expectancy Scale

    Time frame: Before treatment, after the third session of treatment, and after the twentieth session of treatment.

  7. Change in Patient-Doctor Relationship Questionnaire(PDRQ-9) .

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

  8. Change in Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire(DDPRQ-10).

    Time frame: At baseline (four weeks before randomization), weeks 5-8 after randomization and weeks 17-20 after randomization.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Wei Wang

Other

Collaborators

  • Hubei College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • Hubei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • The Second Hospital of Huangshi
  • University Hospital of Huang Jia Lake Campus, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine
  • Wuhan Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital
  • Xiangyang No.1 People's Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine

Registry information

Official study title

Evaluating the Prophylactic Efficacy of Acupuncture for Migraine Without Aura (MWoA) : A Randomized Controlled Trial

Important dates

Study start
2016
Primary completion
2018
Study completion
2018
First posted
May 6, 2016
Registry last updated
Sep 9, 2019

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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