The effect of wet cupping therapy on the clinical symptoms of adult-onset asthma: a randomized clinical trial.

Background/aim: Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the lungs. Cupping therapy is a traditional method used in Persian medicine for treating various ailments. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-asthmatic effects of wet cupping therapy (WCT) in patients with mild to moderate asthma.

Materials and methods: This is a randomized clinical trial conducted on 103 asthma patients who were referred to Loghman Hakim Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The diagnosis of the disease was confirmed by a pulmonologist based on the patient's history and clinical examinations. The patients who were treated with common asthma medications were assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group underwent one session of WCT in the region between two shoulders on one of the 17th, 19th, and 21st days of the lunar month. The clinical signs of all patients were gathered based on the asthma control test questionnaire before the intervention and in the first, second, fourth, sixth, and eighth weeks after the intervention. The scores of the five questionnaire items and the mean total treatment score (MTTS) were compared between the two groups. Additionally, the satisfaction scores of the participants in the two groups were compared.

Results: Of 103 patients, 82 patients completed the study. The mean total treatment score (MTTS) was not significantly different between the control and intervention groups at the beginning of the study (p = 0.06). In the intervention group, the MTTS was 11.44 before WCT, while it was significantly increased (24.24) eighth week after the intervention (p < 0.001). However, the MTTS in the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group in the first week (p <0.001). In addition, at the end of the trial, the subjects' satisfaction scores in the WCT and control groups were 7.48 and 4.53, respectively (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Wet cupping therapy can be an efficient therapeutic method to ameliorate respiratory complications of asthma patients.