Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. The condition is preventable. Therefore, early detection and implementation of effective treatment are important.

In order to assess the effect of acupuncture on this condition, a broad search for randomized, placebo-controlled studies testing acupuncture to treat vascular dementia was undertaken.

The studies were identified from a search of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement group’s Specialized Register, which contained records from all major health care databases and many ongoing trials databases. In addition, the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database was searched, and the Internet was searched using the Copernic search engine. Studies of acupuncture therapy in the treatment of vascular dementia were included regardless of language and publication types.

And the results.
Although there were more than 105 studies of acupuncture for treating vascular dementia (with benefit reported in up to 70% to 91% of treated patients), there were “no randomized controlled studies, and high quality trials [were] few,” according to the researchers.

Since they were unable to perform a reanalysis (meta-analysis) of the data, they concluded, “the effectiveness of acupuncture for vascular dementia is uncertain.”

The bottom line, you ask?
You mean besides the fact that a decent study is needed?

Imagine the looks on the faces of the researchers when they came to the realization that after all that searching they would be unable to actually report anything … except that there was nothing to report.

4/20/07 19:03 JR