Hypercholesterolemia treated with medicinal pad-separated moxibustion:A randomized clinical trial

Objective:To assess the effect of medicinal pad-separated moxibustion for reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)in the patients with hypercholesterolemia.Design:Clinical randomized controlled trial with blinding for outcome assessors and statisticians.Setting:Department of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina,Department of Physical examination of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine and three community health centers adjacent to the Hospital and University,from July 2015 to December 2017.Patients:60 patients with hypercholesterolemia(elevated LDL-C).Interventions:The therapeutic lifestyle change(TLC)was provided in both groups.In the experiment group,medicinal pad-separated moxibustion was applied using two groups of acupoints(Group No.1:Jùquē[巨阙CV14],Tiānshū[天枢ST25]and Fēnglóng[丰隆ST40]).(Group No.2:Xīnshū[心俞BL15],Gānshū[肝俞BL18]and Píshū[脾俞BL20])alternatively for 3-5 times a week.In the control group,Simvastatin tablets were administered orally by the patients in accordance with instructions in the medication guides(10 mg/d).Main outcome measures:Change of LDL-C after 12 weeks of treatment compared with the baseline.Results:After 12 weeks of treatment,LDL-C was reduced in both the medicinal pad-separated moxibustion group and the simvastatin group compared with that at baseline(both P<0.05).The difference on change of LDL-C was not significant between groups(P>0.05).At week 4 of follow-up,LDL-C was reduced compared with that at baseline in the medicinal pad-moxibustion group(P<0.05),and the difference on change of LDL-C was significant between groups(P<0.05).At week 12 of follow-up,the difference on change of LDL-C was not significant when compared with the baseline in each group(both P>0.05)and between groups(P>0.05).In comparison with values before treatment,the values of triglyceride(TC)and triacylglycerol(TG)were reduced in both groups(all P<0.05),while value of highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)was increased in the medicinal pad-separated moxibustion group after 12 weeks of treatment(P<0.05).The change of TG and HDL-C values were significantly different between groups(both P<0.05).At week 4 of follow-up,values of TC and TG were lower(both P<0.05)and HDL-C was higher(P<0.05)when compared with that at baseline in the medicinal pad-separated moxibustion group;and value of TC was lower and HDL-C higher in the medicinal pad-separated moxibustion group compared with that in the simvastatin group(both P<0.05).At week 12 of follow-up,compared with that at baseline,all blood lipid outcomes were not significantly different either within(P>0.05)or between groups(P>0.05).Conclusion:Medicinal pad-separated moxibustion could reduce LDL-C and increase HDL-C in patients with hypercholesterolemia.However,these results need to be further verified by study with large sample size.