Spanish scientists find that applying moxibustion–an ancient Chinese acupuncture technique–reduces the number of caesarean sections. Moxibustion helps move the fetus from a non-vertex to the vertex position
Moxibustion–declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO–uses the plant Artemisia, which is applied with heat to the patient’s body
Researchers say that in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia this could mean 581 caesarean sections fewer per year–saving the public health system an annual €2.3 million (some $2.6m)
Spanish scientists have found that applying moxibustion, an ancient Chinese acupuncture technique, to pregnant women at 33-35 weeks’ gestation, could help reduce the number of caesarean sections by up to 25%. This worldwide pioneering research has shown that using this technique in women presenting in a non-vertex position helps move the fetus to the vertex position, thus avoiding the need to perform caesarean sections.
Moxibustion is a therapeutic technique that was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010. It involves a plant known as common wormwood or mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) which, in a cigar-shaped form, is applied with heat to the patient’s body.
The research has been reported in the British Medical Acupuncture Society’s Acupuncture Medicine, published by the prestigious British Medical Journal publishing group. The lead author is Leticia Garcia-Mochón–a researcher in the University of Granada’s Department of Applied Economics. Her co-authors come from the Andalusian School of Public Health (Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública), health centers in Málaga (San Andrés Torcal) and the town of Dos Hermanas in Seville province (Doña Mercedes), the Carlos III Institute of Health, and the Costa del Sol Health Agency (Marbella, Málaga).
Acupuncture point BL67
The aim of the study was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of using the technique of moxibustion to correct breech position presentation and thus reduce the number of caesarean sections performed at term. The authors developed a deterministic model of decision analysis that compares the percentage of births with vertex fetus and the cost of applying heat treatment by combustion of Artemisia vulgaris (moxibustion) at the acupuncture point termed Bladder 67 (BL67) in pregnant women with a non-vertex fetus at 33-35 weeks’ gestation.
The results show that moxibustion avoids 8.92% of non-vertex position births when compared with conventional treatment. This represents a saving of €107 ($120) per delivery, mainly due to the number of cesarean sections avoided. Meta-analysis shows a relative risk of non-vertex presentation at term of 0.35 (95% CI, 0.16-0.76).
Moreover, sensitivity analyses show moxibustion can prevent 8%-25% of caesarean sections. «With hospitalization data from the Minimum Basic Data Set for 2013, if this technique was adopted by Andalusian Public Healthcare System (Sistema Sanitario Público Andaluz), around 581 caesarean sections could be avoided each year, saving an annual €2.3 million ($2.6m), «said Leticia Garcia-Mochón.
One unexpected result was the higher incidence of caesarean sections in vertex presentation in the moxibustion group (19%) when compared to the control group (13.3%).»We cannot explain this, but it could be an example of «theory-induced blindness», given the difficulty of integrating acupuncture techniques into the standard paradigm of Western medicine, «says García-Mochón.
Reference:
Cost effectiveness of using moxibustion to correct non-vertex presentation
Leticia García-Mochón, José J. Martín, José Manuel Aranda-Regules, Francisco Rivas-Ruiz and Jorge Vas
Acupunct Med. 2015; 0:1–6. doi:10.1136/acupmed-2014-010696
1. The UGR researcher Leticia Garcia Mochón .
2 and 3. Material used for moxibustion and patient undergoing this technique ( PHOTOS: WIKIMEDIA and Jaap Buijs / Flickr)
Contact details:
Leticia García-Mochón
PhD student/Research Fellow Doctoral Program in Economics Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences University of Granada
E-mail address: leticia.garcia.easp@juntadeandalucia.es
Twitter: @lgmochon
José J. Martín
Tenured lecturer Department of Applied Economics University of Granada
E-mail address: jmartin@ugr.es
Cellphone: +34 677 842 143
