The effectiveness of acupuncture therapy on stress in a large urban college population

This study is a randomized controlled clinical tria l to study the effectiveness of acupuncture in the perception of stress in patients who study or w ork on a large urban college campus. The hypothesis was that verum acupuncture would demonst rate a significant positive impact on perceived stress as compared to sham acupuncture. This study included 111 participants with high self -r ported stress levels who either studied or worked at a large urban public university in the so uthwestern United States. 62 participants completed the study. Subjects were randomized into a verum acupuncture o r sham acupuncture group. Both groups received treatment once a week for 12 weeks. The Co hen’s Global Measure of Perceived Stress scale (PSS-14) was completed by each subject prior to treatment, at 6 weeks, at 12 weeks, and 6 weeks and 12 weeks post-treatment completion. While both verum and sham acupuncture patients show ed a substantial initial decrease in perceived stress scores, at 12 weeks post treatment verum acupuncture showed a significantly greater treatment effect than sham acupuncture. This study indicates that acupuncture may be succes sful in decreasing the perception of stress in students and staff at a large urban university and this effect persists for at least 3 months after th completion of treatment.