Adverse events following acupuncture: prospective survey of 32 000 consultations with doctors and physiotherapists

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7311.485

BMJ 2001;323:485-486 ( 1 September )

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Adverse events following acupuncture: prospective survey of 32 000 consultations with doctors and physiotherapists

Adrian White, senior lecturer ^a, Simon Hayhoe, anaesthetist ^b, Anna Hart, principal lecturer ^c, Edzard Ernst, professor ^a.

^a See Editorial by Vincent and p 486 Department of Complementary Medicine, School of Postgraduate Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Exeter EX2 4NT, ^b Pain Clinic, Colchester District General Hospital, Colchester CO4 5JL, ^c Faculty of Science, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE

Correspondence to: A White a.r.white@ex.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Acupuncture is increasingly popular, but it is not free from risk for the patient.¹ Safety is best established with prospectivesurveys. Our aim was to ascertain the incidence of adverse eventsrelated to acupuncture treatment, as currently practised in Britainby doctors andphysiotherapists.

Participants, methods, and results

Volunteer acupuncture practitioners were recruited through journals circulated to members of the British Medical AcupunctureSociety and the Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists(approximately 2750 members).² A prospective survey was undertakenusing forms for intensive event monitoring that had been pilotedpreviously.³ Minor adverse events were defined as "any ill-effect,no matter how small, that is unintended and non-therapeutic, evenif not unexpected." These events were reported every month, alongwith the total number of consultations. Minor or serious eventsthat were considered to be "significant" $---$ "unusual, novel, dangerous,significantly inconvenient, or requiring further information" $---$ werereported on separate forms when they occurred. Anonymous reportingwas accepted. . . . [Full text of this article]

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