The C.A.M. Report
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Fair, Balanced, and to the Point
  • About this web log

    This blog ran from 2006 to 2016 and was intended as an objective and dispassionate source of information on the latest CAM research. Since my background is in pharmacy and allopathic medicine, I view all CAM as advancing through the development pipeline to eventually become integrated into mainstream medical practice. Some will succeed while others fail. But all are treated fairly here.

  • About the author

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

  • Common sense considerations

    The material on this weblog is for informational purposes. It is not medical advice or counsel. Be smart, consult your health professional before using CAM.

  • Recent Posts

  • Recent Comments

    No benefit from acupuncture for allergic rhinitis

    Maybe if we do a bigger, better, study…

    First, the details.

    • Studies were included in this review if they compared acupuncture to a sham or inactive acupuncture treatment (placebo) with or without standard care.
    • Re-analysis of the results (meta-analysis) was performed where feasible.

    And, the results.

    • 7 generally of poor quality studies were reviewed.
    • The meta-analysis failed to show benefits from acupuncture to treat symptoms,
    • There were no changes in IgE — antibodies that recognize antigens (eg, dust mites, pollen) so the body can defend against them.

    The bottom line?
    Ever optimistic, the authors hold out hope that, “A large well conducted [study], which overcomes identified methodological problems in the existing [studies], would be required to resolve this question.”

    Yea. We’ll get right on it.

    An earlier study reported benefit when acupuncture was started before symptoms began.

    5/1/08 08:41 JR

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