Trial reportSubstance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy2016
Auricular acupuncture for substance use: a randomized controlled trial of effects on anxiety, sleep, drug use and use of addiction treatment services.
Trial report in Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 15 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
RCT of Auricular Acupuncture in Substance Abuse: Effects on Anxiety, Sleep, Drug Use and Use of Addiction Treatment Services. A Randomized Controlled Study
Efficacy of Hypno-ear-acupuncture on Insomnia in Advanced Cancer Patients: a Randomized Clinical Trial
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 34 citations in OpenAlex.
- Acupuncture-related therapies for drug addiction: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of music interventions to improve sleep in adults with mental health problems.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2024Pooled it
- Acupuncture for mild cognitive impairment: A systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- The effect of auricular therapy on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of cardiovascular nursing · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Patients Experience of Ear Acupuncture for Anxiety-A Qualitative Interview Study.Nursing research and practice · 2026Article
- Auricular acupuncture as stress-relieving intervention for parents of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit: insights gained from a pilot study.Frontiers in global women's health · 2025Article
- Complementary and Integrative Health Use in Binge Eating Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Mixed-Methods Study of Binge Eating Disorder Experts' Perspectives.International journal of nursing and health care research · 2024Article
- Challenges in substance use treatment as perceived by professionals and Arabic-speaking refugees in Germany.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- Auricular acupuncture for sleep quality in participants with mental and behavioral disorders due to prior multiple drug use: a retrospective consecutive case series.Journal of Yeungnam medical science · 2023Article
- The Effect of Auriculotherapy on Situational Anxiety Trigged by Examinations: A Randomized Pilot Trial.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Ear Acupuncture according to the NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association).Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Physical or Psychological Therapy? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Acupuncture for Subsyndromal Depression among Methamphetamine Users.Iranian journal of public health · 2019Article
- Auricular Acupuncture for Craving in a Single-subject Case Study of Woman with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Ecstasy Use.Iranian journal of public health · 2018Article
- The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association protocol, auricular acupuncture to support patients with substance abuse and behavioral health disorders: current perspectives.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA common alternative treatment for substance abuse is auricular acupuncture. The aim of the study was to evaluate the short and long-term effect of auricular acupuncture on anxiety, sleep, drug use and addiction treatment utilization in adults with substance abuse.
methodOf the patients included, 280 adults with substance abuse and psychiatric comorbidity, 80 were randomly assigned to auricular acupuncture according to the NADA protocol, 80 to auricular acupuncture according to a local protocol (LP), and 120 to relaxation (controls). The primary outcomes anxiety (Beck Anxiety Inventory; BAI) and insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index; ISI) were measured at baseline and at follow-ups 5 weeks and 3 months after the baseline assessment. Secondary outcomes were drug use and addiction service utilization. Complete datasets regarding BAI/ISI were obtained from 37/34 subjects in the NADA group, 28/28 in the LP group and 36/35 controls. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Analysis of Variance, Kruskal Wallis, Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance, Eta square (η(2)), and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks tests.
resultsParticipants in NADA, LP and control group improved significantly on the ISI and BAI. There was no significant difference in change over time between the three groups in any of the primary (effect size: BAI, η(2) = 0.03, ISI, η(2) = 0.05) or secondary outcomes. Neither of the two acupuncture treatments resulted in differences in sleep, anxiety or drug use from the control group at 5 weeks or 3 months.
conclusionNo evidence was found that acupuncture as delivered in this study is more effective than relaxation for problems with anxiety, sleep or substance use or in reducing the need for further addiction treatment in patients with substance use problems and comorbid psychiatric disorders. The substantial attrition at follow-up is a main limitation of the study.
trial registrationClinical Trials NCT02604706 (retrospectively registered).
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.