Long-term follow-up of patients treated with acupuncture for xerostomia and the influence of additional treatment.

OBJECTIVE To determine the long-term effects of acupuncture in patients with xerostomia of different etiologies and the influence of additional treatment. DESIGN Retrospective study. SUBJECTS Seventy patients, between the ages of 33 and 82, with xerostomia due to primary and secondary Sjögren's syndrome, irradiation and other causes were included. The median duration of xerostomia was 32 months. METHODS Salivary flow rates (SFR) for whole unstimulated and stimulated saliva were used as indicators of effects of treatment. Data from 67/70 patients were analyzed 6 months following a baseline course of 24 acupuncture treatments using two-way ANOVA. Patients data up to 3 years were also compared by those who chose to receive additional acupuncture treatment vs those who did not. These data were analyzed descriptively. RESULTS Statistically significant differences in unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow rates (P < 0.01) were found in all etiological groups after 24 acupuncture treatments and up to 6 months follow-up compared to baseline. Three years observation of these patients showed that patients receiving additional acupuncture treatment had a consistently higher median SFR in both unstimulated and stimulated saliva compared to patients who chose not to continue acupuncture. The upper limits of the interquartile range were also higher. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that acupuncture treatment results in statistically significant improvements in SFR in patients with xerostomia up to 6 months. It suggests that additional acupuncture therapy can maintain this improvement in SFR for up to 3 years.