（Published by World Health Organization）
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The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below.
- Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved— through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment:
Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary Dysmenorrhoea, primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders) Headache
Hypertension, essential Hypotension, primary Induction of labour Knee pain
Leukopenia Low back pain
Malposition of fetus, correction of Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting Neck pain
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of shoulder Postoperative pain Renal colic Rheumatoid arthritis
Acupuncture: review and analysis of controlled clinical trials
Sciatica
Sprain
Stroke
Tennis elbow
2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:
Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm) Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification Bell’s palsy
Bronchial asthma Cancer pain Cardiac neurosis
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent Earache
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease) Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female infertility Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome Fibromyalgia and fasciitis Gastrokinetic disturbance Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3) Hyperlipaemia
Hypo-ovarianism Insomnia Labour pain
Lactation, deficiency
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic Ménière disease
3.Disease and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture
Neuralgia, post-herpetic
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein–Leventhal syndrome)
Postextubation in children
Postoperative convalescence
Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic
Pruritus
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Schizophrenia
Sialism, drug-induced
Sjögren syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Stiff neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence
Tourette syndrome
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough (pertussis)
4. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled trials reporting some therapeutic effects, but for which acupuncture is worth trying because treatment by conventional and other therapies is difficult:
Chloasma
Choroidopathy, central serous
Acupuncture: review and analysis of controlled clinical trials
Colour blindness
Deafness
Hypophrenia
Irritable colon syndrome
Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
Small airway obstruction
5. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture may be tried provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment:
Breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Coma
Convulsions in infants
Coronary heart disease (angina pectoris)
Diarrhoea in infants and young children
Encephalitis, viral, in children, late stage
Paralysis, progressive bulbar and pseudobulbar
6. Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture
The diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials reported in the recent literature can be classified into four categories as shown below.
