2016 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 480-483
[Background and Objective] It is reported that in patients with tension–type headache (TTH) the severity and frequency of the headache are reduced by real acupuncture in comparison with sham acupuncture. However, we classify TTH into frequent episodic tension–type headache (FTTH) and chronic tension–type headache (CTTH), and have found no report examining the number of sessions and duration of treatment required to attain the desired clinical effect. Therefore the purpose of this study is to clarify the number of acupuncture sessions and the period required for the subjective symptoms of FTTH and CTTH to improve by more than 50%. We also intended to obtain the data necessary to explain these facts to TTH patients at the time of the first medical examination and diagnosis.
[Method] The subjects were 221 ICHD–2 patients diagnosed with TTH who met the selection and exclusion criteria among 355 patients who had been referred to our department by specialists in other areas. There were 82 FTTH patients (28 men, 54 women), average age 52.7+−16.1 years old (mean ± S.D.) and 139 CTTH patients (44 men, 95 women, average age 50.4+−18.3 years old).
[Result] Sixty six (80.1%) FTTH patients and 82 (59.9%) CTTH patients had more than 50% improvement of symptoms showing that FTTH patients responded significantly better to acupuncture treatment. Furthermore, among improved patients, the number of sessions required to attain > 50% improvement of symptoms was significantly lower for FTTH patients and the duration of treatment was significantly shorter compared with CTTH patients [2.8 sessions versus 8.9 (p<0.01) ; 14.9 versus 35.9 days (p<0.01)].
[Conclusion] The significant difference in the required number of sessions and duration of treatment between FTTH and CTTH groups indicates that it is necessary to distinguish between these two types of TTH and explain the differences to the patient at the time of diagnosis.
