Effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on heart rate variability in chronic fatigue syndrome patients: Regulating the autonomic nervous system in a clinical randomized controlled trial

作者：Tong Li, Gerhard Litscher, Yudian Zhou, Yanjuan Song, Qing Shu, Lidian Chen, Qi Huang, Yayuan Wang, Haoran Tian, Rufeng Teng, Hua Wang, Feng-Xia Liang · 发表于：Complementary Therapies in Medicine · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.ctim.2025.103184 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control、Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research、Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the effects of various acupuncture techniques, specific acupuncture points, and their combinations on symptom improvement in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients as well as their influence on heart rate variability (HRV) indicators. METHODS: We recruited 35 healthy subjects as a healthy control group (Group A) and 175 patients with CFS, who were randomly divided into a fake acupuncture group (Group B), an acupuncture group targeting the Zusanli (ST36) point (Group C), an acupuncture group targeting the Guanyuan (CV4) point (Group D), a dual-acupoint acupuncture group (Group E), and a moxibustion group (Group F), with 35 patients in each group. Group B received fake acupuncture at both the bilateral Zusanli and Guanyuan points simultaneously. Group C received acupuncture at the bilateral Zusanli points along with fake acupuncture at the Guanyuan point. Group D received acupuncture at the Guanyuan point along with fake acupuncture at the bilateral Zusanli points. Group E received acupuncture at both the bilateral Zusanli and Guanyuan points simultaneously, and Group F received moxibustion at both the bilateral Zusanli and Guanyuan points simultaneously. Each group received a total of 10 treatments, administered every other day. Before treatment, the Qi-deficiency Syndrome Score, CFS Score, and SF36 Score were assessed for all subjects. HRV was measured before treatment, after the first treatment, after the fourth treatment, and at the end ...