Trial reportTrials2021
Factors contributing to cognitive improvement effects of acupuncture in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a pilot randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Trials, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of acupuncture combined with donepezil for Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Comparative efficacy of acupuncture-related techniques for mild cognitive impairment: A Bayesian network analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture mitigates cognitive impairments in chronic hypoxia-induced mice by modulating neuroinflammation.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture Pretreatment Reduces Ischemic Brain Injury by Inhibiting the Lactate Production and Its Derived Protein Lactylation Formation.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture promotes neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and improves pattern separation in an early Alzheimer's disease mouse model.Biological research · 2023Article
- Acupuncture is associated with reduced dementia risk in patients with insomnia: A propensity-score-matched cohort study of real-world data.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2023Article
- Clinical observation and mechanism of acupuncture on amnestic mild cognitive impairment based on the gut-brain axis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Effects of Moxa Cone Moxibustion Therapy on Cognitive Function and Brain Metabolic Changes in MCI Patients: A PilotFrontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Electroacupuncture of Baihui and Shenting ameliorates cognitive deficitsFrontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- Acupuncture for chronic insomnia with mild cognitive impairment: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMild cognitive impairment (MCI) is generally regarded as the borderline between cognitive changes of aging and very early Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is important to develop easily available interventions to delay the progression of MCI to AD. We investigated factors contributing to the cognitive improvement effects of acupuncture to obtain data for developing optimized acupuncture treatments for MCI.
methodsThis outcome assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial included a full analysis for comparing the efficacy of different acupuncture methods. Thirty-two participants with MCI (i.e., fulfilling the Peterson diagnostic criteria for MCI, K-MMSE scores of 20-23, and MoCA-K scale scores of 0-22) were randomly assigned to basic acupuncture (BA; GV20, EX-HN1, GB20, and GV24 for 30 min), acupoint specificity (AS; adding KI3 to BA), needle duration (ND; BA for 20 min), or electroacupuncture (EA; electrical stimulation to BA) groups (n=8/group) via 1:1:1:1 allocation and administered acupuncture once daily, three times a week for 8 weeks. The measured outcomes included scores on the Korean version of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-K-cog), Korean version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale (MoCA-K), Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, Korean Activities of Daily Living scale, Korean Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale, and European Quality of Life Five Dimension Five Level Scale. Outcome measurements were recorded at baseline (week 0), intervention endpoint (week 8), and 12 weeks after intervention completion (week 20).
resultsTwenty-five patients with MCI completed the trial (BA group, 8; AS group, 6; ND group, 5; EA group, 6). MoCA-K scores were significantly increased in the BA group compared with the ND (p=0.008, week 8-week 0) and EA groups (p=0.003, week 8-week 0; p=0.043, week 20-week 0). ADAS-K-cog scores were significantly decreased in the BA group compared with the ND group (p=0.019, week 20-week 0).
conclusionsThe BA group showed significant improvement in cognitive function compared to the ND and EA groups. Electrical stimulation and needle duration may contribute to the cognitive improvement effects of acupuncture in patients with MCI.
trial registrationClinical Research Information Service; URL:cris.nih.go.kr .; unique identifier: KCT0003430 (registration date: January 16, 2019).
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