• Won-Suk Sung, In Suh Choi, Jeong-Hyun Moon, Soo-Yeon Chae, Min-Gi Jo, Jung-Hyun Kim, Yeon-Cheol Park, Eun-Jung Kim, Yong-Hyeon Baek, Geun-Woo Kim, and Byung-Kwan Seo.
• Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, Dongguk University Bundang Oriental Hospital, Seongnam-si, Republic of Korea.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Oct 28; 101 (43): e31456e31456.

BackgroundSmoking negatively impacts public health. There are several treatments to quit smoking, and nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) reportedly doubles the smoking cessation rate, with some limitations. Acupuncture is an alternative option with proven effects on smoking cessation. However, there has been no definite report that indicates the efficacy and safety of auricular acupuncture (AA) combined with NRT on smoking cessation.MethodsThis is a randomized, assessor-blind, and pragmatic pilot study. We will recruit 40 participants who want to stop smoking and randomly allocate them into an NRT group and an NRT + AA group with a 1:1 ratio. Participants will receive NRT for 4 weeks and the NRT + AA group will receive additional AA treatment with 5 AA points (Shenmen (TF4), lung (CO14), throat (TF3), inner nose (TG4), and endocrine (CO18)) twice a week for 4 weeks. Follow-up will be conducted 1 and 3 months after intervention completion. The primary outcome will be tobacco consumption and abstinence rate determined by calculating the rate of change in cigarette use and a urine test. Secondary outcomes will be the quality of life (EuroQol-5D and visual analogue scale), nicotine dependence (Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence), nicotine withdrawal (Minnesota nicotine withdrawal scale), physical effects, satisfaction, and safety measurement (adverse events).ResultsWe will investigate the efficacy and safety of AA combined with NRT treatment for smoking cessation.ConclusionOur study will provide additional clinical evidence for AA as an adjuvant treatment for smoking cessation.Trial Registration NumberClinical Research Information Service (registration number: KCT0007212).Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

13 keywords...

hide…