<p>Long-Term Beneficial Effects of Acupuncture with Reduced Risk of Depression Development Following Trigeminal Neuralgia: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study</p>

Abstract

Background: Existing evidence has shown that patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) have a higher risk of developing depression than the normal population. Clinically, acupuncture has been widely used to alleviate pain in TN. However, few studies have explored the use of acupuncture to prevent depression in TN. Therefore, this study aimed to apply national real-world data to investigate the long-term effect of acupuncture on the risk of depression in patients with TN. Methods: We recruited participants with newly diagnosed TN from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2010, and categorized them into either the acupuncture cohort or non-acupuncture cohort using the 1:1 propensity score-matched method. All patients in the two cohorts were followed up until the end of 2013. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to compare the incidence of depression between the two cohorts. Results: In total, 776 patients with newly diagnosed TN in each cohort with similar baseline characteristics were enrolled in the study. The acupuncture cohort had a reduced risk of depression compared to the non-acupuncture cohort (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.47; 95% confidence interval, 0.31-0.70). Kaplan-Meier analysis also revealed that the cumulative incidence of depression was significantly lower in the acupuncture cohort during the 13-year follow-up period (Log rank test, p < 0.001). In particular, the beneficial effect of acupuncture was a decrease in the risk of depression among TN patients aged 50-69 years who had also used carbamazepine. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that acupuncture is associated with a reduction in the risk of depression during long-term follow-up in patients with TN. The results provide new insights for clinical practitioners as well as for health resource allocation.

Acupuncture Reduces the Risk of Dysphagia in Stroke Patients: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study

“…In recent years, AP has become widely used for the preventive treatment of numerous diseases, such as the prevention of post-stroke pulmonary infection ( Chang C. C. et al, 2018 ), post-stroke dementia ( Shih et al, 2017 ), post-stroke epilepsy ( Weng et al, 2016 ), coronary heart disease related to cardiovascular disease ( Wu et al, 2018 ), pain-related trigeminal neuralgia, fibromyalgia syndrome, and neuralgia associated with herpes zoster sequelae ( Huang et al, 2020 ; Liao et al, 2020b ; Ruengwongroj et al, 2020 ). It is also widely used in the management of sub-health ( Chang Q. Y. et al, 2018 ; Chen et al, 2019 ).…”

Recent update on trigeminal neuralgia

“…These neurons are stimulated and emit aberrant signals when the trigeminal nerve peripheral branches are compressed or stimulated by inflammation. Schwann cells have also been implicated in TN and have been proven to have a pain-relieving impact by remyelinating damaged nerves in some investigations [59].…”