A Clinical Study of Acupuncture with Aromatherapy on Poststroke Depression Patients

Sun, Jong Joo; Chung, Sae Yun; Hwang, Jae Woong; Kim, Seok Min; Jung, Jae Han; Choi, Chang Min; Jung, Woo Sang; Moon, Sang Kwan; Cho, Ki Ho; Kim, Young Suk

The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine > Volume 27(2); 2006 > Article

Original Article

The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine 2006;27(2): 480-487.

중풍후우울증 환자에 대한 향기침요법의 임상적 연구

선종주, 정세연, 황재웅, 김석민, 정재한, 최창민, 정우상, 문상관, 조기호, 김영석

경희대학교 한의과대학 2내과학교실

A Clinical Study of Acupuncture with Aromatherapy on Poststroke Depression Patients

Jong Joo Sun, Sae Yun Chung, Jae Woong Hwang, Seok Min Kim, Jae Han Jung, Chang Min Choi, Woo Sang Jung, Sang Kwan Moon, Ki Ho Cho, Young Suk Kim

Department of Cardiovascular & Neurologic Disease(Stroke center), College of Oriental Medicine, Kyunghee University, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence

Jong Joo Sun ,Tel: 02-958-9275, Fax: 02-958-9134, Email: hi-hanny@hanmail.net

Received: May 25, 2006, Accepted: June 17, 2006, Published online: June 30, 2006.

ABSTRACT

Objectives:
In this study we investigated BDI(Beck Depression Inventory) improvement of poststroke depression patients who took the acupuncture with aromatherapy, in order to examine its capacity as a new treatment and to establish a primary data for further studies of developments of diverse practical acupunctures.

Methods :
Physicians applied the acupuncture with aromatherapy every day for two weeks. We had evaluated baseline characteristics and BDI of all patients, and revaluated BDI and examined the side effects two weeks later. The qualified patients were classified into two groups, depression group (more than 10 points and 10 in BDI) and non-depression group (less than 10 points in BDI) according to the baseline BDI.

Results:
The study was completed with 27stroke patients. The acupuncture with aroma therapy was applied in 18 post-stroke depression patients and 9 non-depression patients for 2 weeks. And the result showed that the BDI scores in the depression group decreased to 16.5±11.1 after the treatment (compared to 24.4±11.5 before the treatment), so proved the significant effect on post-stroke depression of the acupuncture. On the other hand, the scores in the non-depression group increased to 9.2±9.5 (compared to 3.3±3.0).

Conclusions:
The acupuncture with aromatherapy applied on post-stroke depression patients showed the effect of BDI improvement. Further researches are needed to evaluate the distinct functional mechanism of acupuncture with aromatherapy, and to estimate its effectiveness by well-designed randomized controlled trial.

Key words: Acupuncture, aromatherapy, poststroke depression, BDI(Beck Depression Inventory)