{"doi":"10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.41720","title":"Comparison of Acupuncture vs Sham Acupuncture or Waiting List Control in the Treatment of Aromatase Inhibitor–Related Joint Pain","abstract":"Importance: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) have proven efficacy for the treatment of hormone-sensitive breast cancer; however, arthralgias (pain and stiffness) contribute to nonadherence with therapy for more than 50% of patients. Objective: To examine the effect of acupuncture in reducing AI-related joint pain through 52 weeks. Design, Setting, and Participants: A randomized clinical trial was conducted at 11 sites in the US from May 1, 2012, to February 29, 2016, with a scheduled final date of follow-up of September 5, 2017, to compare true acupuncture (TA) with sham acupuncture (SA) or waiting list control (WC). Women with early-stage breast cancer were eligible if they were taking an AI and scored 3 or higher on the Brief Pain Inventory Worst Pain (BPI-WP) item (score range, 0-10; higher scores indicate greater pain). Analysis was conducted for data received through May 3, 2021. Interventions: Participants were randomized 2:1:1 to the TA (n = 110), SA (n = 59), or WC (n = 57) group. The TA and SA protocols were composed of 6 weeks of intervention at 2 sessions per week (12 sessions overall), followed by 6 additional weeks of intervention with 1 session per week. Participants randomized to WC received no intervention. All participants were offered 10 acupuncture sessions to be used between weeks 24 and 52. Main Outcomes and Measures: In this long-term evaluation, the primary end point was the 52-week BPI-WP score, compared by study group using linear regression, adjusted for baseline pain and stratification factors. Results: Among 226 randomized women (mean [SD] age, 60.7 [8.6] years; 87.7% White; mean [SD] baseline BPI-WP score, 6.7 [1.5]), 191 (84.5%) completed the trial. In a linear regression, 52-week mean BPI-WP scores were 1.08 (95% CI, 0.24-1.91) points lower in the TA compared with the SA group (P = .01) and were 0.99 (95% CI, 0.12-1.86) points lower in the TA compared with the WC group (P = .03). In addition, 52-week BPI pain interference scores were statistically significantly lower in the TA compared with the SA group (difference, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.00-1.16; P = .05). Between 24 and 52 weeks, 12 (13.2%) of TA, 6 (11.3%) of SA, and 5 (10.6%) of WC patients reported receipt of acupuncture. Conclusions and Relevance: In this randomized clinical trial, women with AI-related joint pain receiving 12 weeks of TA had reduced pain at 52 weeks compared with controls, suggesting long-term benefits of this therapy. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01535066.","journal":"JAMA Network Open","year":2022,"id":238213,"datarank":1.453363260210459,"base_score":4.04305126783455,"endowment":4.04305126783455,"self_citation_contribution":0.6064576901751826,"citation_network_contribution":0.8469055700352763,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6064576901751826,"citer_contribution":0.8469055700352763,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":56,"citer_count":51,"citers_with_citation_signal":30,"citers_with_endowment":30,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9578,"is_data_producer":true,"deposit_databanks":{"ClinicalTrials.gov":["NCT01535066"]},"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":274181,"name":"Joseph M. Unger","orcid":"0000-0002-5191-0317","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":564646,"name":"Heather Greenlee","orcid":"0000-0003-4148-1405","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":816970,"name":"Jillian L. Capodice","orcid":"0000-0002-1953-1771","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":553024,"name":"Danika L. Lew","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559110,"name":"Amy K. Darke","orcid":"0000-0002-9821-2065","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":283272,"name":"Lori M. Minasian","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":528287,"name":"Michael Fisch","orcid":"0000-0001-5312-403X","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":420450,"name":"N. Lynn Henry","orcid":"0000-0002-4771-5930","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":497241,"name":"Katherine D. Crew","orcid":"0000-0002-9637-2962","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":107125,"name":"Dawn L. Hershman","orcid":"0000-0001-8807-153X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":30,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:22:26.932537Z","pmid":"36367721","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}