• Overview
  • Forms of Treatment
  • Prevalence and Use in the U.S.
  • Costs and Coverage
  • Licensure and Credentials
  • Transmission of Chinese Medical Thought
  • East Asian Medical Theory and Diagnosis
• Interventions
  • Acupuncture
  • Chinese Herbal Medicine
  • Meditative Exercises
• Conditions
  • Acupuncture and Smoking Cessation
  • Acupuncture in the Treatment of Hypertension
  • Tai Chi and Cardiovascular Health

Acupuncture and Smoking Cessation

According to the American Lung Association, [1] cigarette smoking is the most important source of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is responsible for one in five deaths in the US, and in 1999, over 440,000 deaths were attributed to cigarette smoking. Annual smoking related health care costs were estimated over $150 billion dollars in the years from 1995–1999. Smoking cessation can be very difficult due to the addictive qualities of nicotine. While it is estimated that 70% of smokers want to stop, and 34% try to stop each year, only 2.5% succeed. Popular pharmaceutical aids for smoking cessation include nicotine patches, gum, and antidepressant medication such as bupropion hydrochloride. The highest success rates for smoking cessation are seen with a combination of pharmaceutical support and behavioral counseling, yet cessation rates at one year after completion of a program are still only 20-25%. [2]

Because of these limited success rates, along with contraindications and side effects of pharmaceutical products, there has been a growing interest in using CAM therapies, such as acupuncture, to facilitate smoking cessation.

A number of studies have investigated the efficacy of acupuncture for smoking cessation. White and colleagues [3], [4] conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that evaluated whether active acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture for smoking cessation. Their study identified 14 randomized controlled trials that included a total of 3486 patients. Based on these studies, they concluded that there is little evidence to support the hypothesis that active acupuncture is superior to sham acupuncture in facilitating smoking cessation. The authors also systematically evaluated the quality of each trialís design and judged their overall quality to be poor. The majority of the studies they evaluated had significant methodological flaws, including inadequate sample sizes, poor randomization schemes, poor acupuncture protocols often administered by inexperienced acupuncturists, and questionable sham controls, among other limitations.

A recent study by Bier and colleagues [5] was based on a rigorous design that addressed a number of the methodological concerns raised by White and colleagues. They designed and conducted a randomized, quasi-factorial design to examine the efficacy of auricular acupuncture and education on smoking cessation. Treatments included true acupuncture + education, sham acupuncture + education, and true acupuncture alone. They found that all three groups showed significant reductions in smoking and post-treatment cigarette consumption; however, the true acupuncture + education group showed the highest cessation rates (40%), which were maintained at 18 months post-treatment. Further well designed studies are needed to better determine the efficacy of acupuncture as part of a comprehensive program for smoking cessation.

Resources and Links

• Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program for smoking cessation programs by region in Massachusetts.
• National Acupuncture Detox Association website.