The Effect of Wet Cupping on Blood Haemoglobin Level

Although wet cupping is quite a popular procedure that is practised worldwide, there is not enough evidence that it may cause anaemia as a side effect. In this observational retrospective pre–post study, we looked through the previously recorded data of patients who received wet cupping at King Abdulaziz University Hospital. We included in the study all those who had their complete blood count done before and immediately after the procedure (n=364). Then, we recorded their blood haemoglobin, red blood cell count, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and haematocrit before wet cupping, immediately after it, within 3 months after it, then, finally, from 3 months to 6 months after it. Three comparisons took place for each blood test by comparing the pre-reading with each one of the three post-readings. There was no statistically significant difference in any of the pre–post comparisons of those blood tests. However, after excluding those who were not anaemic and keeping only the anaemic patients, the comparison showed statistically significant improvement, but not clinically significant, when comparing the red blood cell count and the haematocrit before and immediately after wet cupping — p value was 0.000 for both. The mean difference for red blood cell count was –0.80 million cells/μL (–0.12 to –0.39) while the haematocrit mean difference was –0.64% (–0.96 to –0.33). In conclusion, anaemia was not found as a side effect of wet cupping.