Efficacy of acupoint application in patients with overactive bladder: A randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial

Conventional treatments for alleviating the symptoms of Overactive bladder (OAB) have been reported to have limited efficacy and a high rate of side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in Asia countries because of its low side effects and being easy to operate. To confirm the efficacy of acupoint application treatment for alleviating OAB symptoms, a randomized and placebo-controlled pilot trial was conducted in this study.

All participants were randomly allocated into a treatment group or control group, receiving either a "Dinggui" acupoint application or placebo treatment for 4 weeks. The outcome measures were OAB symptom scores (OABSS), OAB questionnaire (OAB-q) scores, and TCM syndrome scores. Urine nerve growth factor (NGF) level, NGF normalized to urine creatinine (NGF/Cr), and maximum flow rate (Q_max) were also measured to evaluate the OAB symptoms.

In total, 69 participants were included with 34 in the treatment group and 35 in the placebo-treated group. Treatment with "Dinggui" acupoint application showed a statistically significant decrease in OABSS scores (8.10±1.54 to 3.67±1.77), OAB-q scores (61.43±13.93 to 38.13±15.42), and TCM syndrome scores (15.60±5.98 to 9.20±4.82). The NGF and NGF/Cr were also observed meaningful changes in a decrease from 379.68 to 136.17 pg/ml and from 0.30 to 0.16 pg/mg, respectively. The Q_max value showed a significant increase from 14.40 to 24.05 ml/s.

Treatment with "Dinggui" acupoint application could be considered an effective and alternative therapy for OAB management. Further studies with larger sample sizes and longer treatment periods are needed to investigate.