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CompletedNCT03767140Updated Dec 7, 2018

Efficacy of Acupuncture in Exercise Tolerance in Patients With COPD

An interventional study of acupuncture in Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, sponsored by Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar. Completed at 1 site in Portugal. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 90 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-12-07.

Sponsored by Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 5 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Jun 2018, registered Dec 2018).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
29
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 90 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is nowadays the 4th cause of death in the world and it´s expected to become the 3rd cause of death in 2020 and the majority cause of morbidity. Besides that, in Portugal COPD patients become more dependents each day.

Acupuncture as a reflex therapy it´s carried out through a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnose that will allowed to identify the acupoints.

The investigators are interested in to assess acupuncture efficacy on physical exercise tolerance in COPD patients.An experimental, controlled, randomized, double blind study was done. Patients were recruited according TCM diagnose to optimize potential therapeutic effects.

02

Conditions studied

  • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
03

In context

Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive

4,131 studies on the registry are indexed under Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive; 697 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 29 is below the median of 70 across 2,926 interventional studies indexed under Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive.

Browse Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive studies →

Lead sponsor

Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar is the lead sponsor of 4 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 90 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • COPD GOLD III,IV;
  • able to walk;
  • Informed consent signed;
  • stable medication during last 3 days
  • exacerbation during 3 months;
  • Chinese diagnose opening principle;
  • blood pressure "90"180 mmhg/ "100mmhg; respiratory rate "10"30 cpm

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • smoker;
  • metastasis;
  • hepatic,
  • renal or cardiovascular disease;
  • pulmonary hypertension;
  • COPD symptoms exacerbation during the therapy;
  • previous acupuncture treatments;
  • unstable vital signs;
  • pulmonary rehabilitation in the last 6 months;
  • needle phobia.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
29 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Verum acupucnture

    Real acupuncture treatment

    Procedure: acupuncture

  • Sham comparator
    sham acupuncture

    False acupuncture treatment using not acupuncture points

    Procedure: acupuncture

Interventions

  • Procedureacupuncture

    The patients were randomized in two groups, one verum acupuncture, submitted to real acupuncture treatment, and the other sham acupuncture, treated with false acupuncture

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. six minute walk test (6MWT)

    distance walked (metres)

    Time frame: 6 minutes

Secondary outcomes

  1. Oxygen peripheral saturation (SPO2)

    pulse oximeter

    Time frame: 6 minutes

  2. Rating of perceived exertion (Borg Scale)

    during 6MWT

    Time frame: 6 minutes

  3. Blood pressure

    measure at end of 6MWT

    Time frame: 6 minutes

  4. heart rate

    at end of 6MWT

    Time frame: 6 minutes

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Carla Manuela Loureiro Barros
    Marco de Canaveses, Porto 4635 670, Portugal
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 7, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03767140
Lead sponsor
Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar
Responsible party
Carla Manuela Loureiro Barros (Master student, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar) — Principal investigator
First posted
Dec 6, 2018
Start date
Jun 27, 2018
Primary completion
Sep 25, 2018
Completion
Nov 28, 2018
Last update
Dec 7, 2018

Study contacts

Henry Greten, Doctor
study chair · Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Porto

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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