[Effect of electroacununcture on sex hormone levels in patients with Sjögren's syndrome].

OBJECTIVE

To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on serum testosterone (T), estradiol (F2), luteotropic hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), progesterone (P), and prolactin (PRL) in patients with Sjögren's Syndrome (SS) in order to analyze the correlation between the adjustment effect of EA and changes of hormone levels.

METHODS

Fifty-seven middle-aged and old women with SS were divided into medication group (n=27) and acupuncture group (n=30). Patients in acupuncture group were treated with EA (80 Hz, 2.5 mA) of Shenshu (BL 23), Taixi (KI 3), Hegu (LI 4), etc. for 30 min, once every other day, and those of medication group were treated with oral administration of hydroxyl-chloroquine (6 mg/kg per day), oral transfer agent liquid, Vit B1, Vit B2, Vit C, fish-liver oil, one tablet/time, t.i.d., and pilocarpine (20 mg/d), continuously for 2 months. Venous blood samples were collected before and after the treatment to examine contents of the abovementioned sex hormones by using electro-chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA).

RESULTS

(1) Before the treatment, no significant differences were found between two groups in the levels of serum T, E2, LH, FSH, P and PRL (P > 0.05). After the treatment, self-comparison of each group showed that serum EF and T contents in acupuncture group increased significantly (P < 0.01) and serum LH content decreased significantly (P < 0.01); while in medication group, only serum LH decreased markedly (P < 0.05) in comparison with its basic value of pretreatment. No significant changes were found in serum P, FSH and PRL levels in both groups after the treatment (P > 0.05). The results suggested that the therapeutic effect of acupuncture group was better than that of medication group in regulating multiple sex hormones.

CONCLUSION

EA can effectively adjust E2, T and LH levels in Sjögren's Syndrome patients and improve most patients' clinical symptoms, and the therapeutic effect of EA is better than that of medication.