Acupuncture Therapy on Dysphagia in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Study

Objective: To explore the effect of acupuncture therapy on dysphagia in patients with Parkinson's disease. Methods: This randomized controlled study lasted 42 days and included 112 patients with Parkinson's disease and dysphagia. Participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (56 cases each group) using the completely randomized design, all under routine treatment. The experimental group was given acupuncture therapy. The primary outcome was Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS). The secondary outcomes were (1) Standardized Swallowing Assessment (SSA), and (2) nutritional status including body mass index (BMI), serum albumin, prealbumin, and hemoglobin. Adverse events were recorded as safety indicators. Results: One participant quitted the study midway. There were no significant differences in baseline assessment (P>0.05). After treatment, both groups showed significant improvement in PAS, SSA and nutritional status except for BMI of the control group. There were significant differences between the two groups in the PAS for both paste and liquid, SSA (25.18 +/- 8.25 vs. 20.84 +/- 6.92), BMI (19.97 +/- 3.34 kg/m(2)vs. 21.26 +/- 2.38 kg/m(2)), serum albumin (35.16 +/- 5.29 g/L vs. 37.24 +/- 3.98 g/L), prealbumin (248.33 +/- 27.72 mg/L vs. 261.39 +/- 22.10 mg/L), hemoglobin (119.09 +/- 12.53 g/L vs. 126.67 +/- 13.97 g/L) (P<0.05). There were no severe adverse events during the study. Conclusion: The combination of routine treatment and acupuncture therapy can better improve dysphagia and nutritional status in patients with Parkinson's disease, than routine treatment solely.