Study of Acupuncture and Care Interventions for the Treatment of Breast Inflammation During Breastfeeding
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2004-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
The objective of the study was to test the hypothesis that acupuncture treatment hastens
recovery time from inflammatory symptoms of the breast during breastfeeding. 205 mothers with
210 cases of breast inflammation (commonly called "mastitis") during breastfeeding were
randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. There were two groups where acupuncture
was used and one without acupuncture. The mothers symptoms were recorded at the onset of
health care contact and daily until recovery. All care interventions given, including
antibiotic therapy, were monitored. Women who participated were asked to leave a breast milk
sample to test for bacterial growth. It was found that acupuncture did not shorten the
women's contacts with health care services but did improve their symptoms on contact days 3
and 4. It was seen in this study that only 15 % of women were prescribed antibiotics which
was a very low rate of prescription compared to USA, Canada, Australia, Turkey and New
Zealand where up to 100% are given antibiotics. Seven women (3.3% of those in the study)
developed a breast boil and this is a similar number to a study in Australia where many more
were treated by antibiotics. This could mean that many women throughout the world are given
antibiotics when in fact they may recover without them. This is an important finding in
relation to the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria.