A German study has looked at the clinical and cost-effectiveness of acupuncture for painful periods. Of a group of 649 women, 201 agreed to be randomised to receive either acupuncture or no acupuncture, in addition to any usual care they had. Those women who declined randomisation, were allocated to the acupuncture group. Fifteen acupuncture treatments were given over a three month period. At the end of the trial, average pain intensity was 3.1 in the acupuncture group, versus 5.4 in the non-acupuncture group. The authors concluded that acupuncture was associated with improvements in pain and quality of life, and was also cost effective.
(Acupuncture in patients with dysmenorrhea: a randomized study on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in usual care. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, February 2008.)