Revisión de ensayos clínicos y estudios de cohorte para el tratamiento de la migraña con acupuntura

Introduction

Migraine is a common disorder that affects a large part of the world's population. Therefore, various treatments and therapies to combat it have been sought, including acupuncture as an alternative or complement to pharmacological treatment.

Objective

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in the management of migraine.

Material and methods

A search of the current medical literature was carried out, only clinical trials and cohort studies were included, through PubMed. Simultaneously, 18 databases of the World Health Organization were searched for records of future clinical trials evaluating acupuncture in the management of migraine.

Results

This search included documents (n = 21); retrospective cohort studies (n = 2) and clinical trials (n = 19), all written in English. Additionally, eleven clinical trials registered in: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (n = 7), U.S. National Library of Medicine (n = 3) and Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (n = 1).

Conclusion

Acupuncture is an effective and safe technique as reported in all the clinical trials and observational studies included in this search. However, more studies with a greater time of observation and a higher population of patients are required, to generate greater validity than the current evidence.