Needle acupuncture in tension-type headache: a randomized, placebo-controlled study

A study with needle acupuncture was performed in tension-type headache empl oying a new placebo acupuncture method. Sixty-nine patients (mean age 48.1 years, SD = 14.1) fulfilling the International Headache Society criteria fo r tension-type headache were randomly assigned to verum or placebo conditio n. No significant differences between placebo and verum with respect to vis ual analogue scale and frequency of headache attacks could be observed imme diately, 6 weeks and 5 months after the end of treatment. There was a signi ficant but weak improvement in quality of life parameters (clinical global impressions, Nottingham Health Profile) after verum treatment. In decision tree analyses, the changes in clinical global impressions and headache freq uency depended significantly on primary headache frequency with a limit val ue of 24.5 days headache per month. High values in the von Zerssen Depressi on Score resulted in high mean visual analogue scale values.