Immuno‐Sympathoinhibitory targeted Electroacupuncture Treatment Enhanced Blood Pressure Lowering Responsiveness in Middle‐Aged Hypertensive Patients

We have shown that 8‐week electroacupuncture (EA) at P5‐6 and St36‐37 reduces blood pressure (BP) (70% effectiveness, BP decrease of ≥ −6 mmHg in peak or average systolic or diastolic) and norepinephrine in a group of male and female (38–75 year) patients with mild to moderate hypertension (HTN). During the 8 EA sessions, the onset of the BP reduction was observed by week 4, while these patients were not on antihypertensive medications. BP reduction with 30‐min EA once a week treatment at P5‐6+St36‐37 as such is defined as sympathoinhibitory. Interestingly, only 59% of middle‐aged and elderly (46–75 years) patients with HTN are responsive to this sympathoinhibitory treatment. To this end, we formulated a targeted treatment that addresses low grade chronic inflammation present in hypertensive patients. High sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP) is a marker of systemic chronic low‐grade inflammation. We hypothesized that immuno‐sympathoinhibition by EA treatment decreases BP and hs‐CRP in majority of middle‐aged and elderly patients with HTN. Participants were not on antihypertensive medications and randomly allocated to either sympathoinhibitory (n=12) or immuno‐sympathoinhibitory (n=9) EA treatment. After completion of the 8‐week course of treatment, the BP lowering responsiveness (≥ −6 mmHg) to the immuno‐sympathoinhibitory EA was 88% (P=0.016) while the sympathoinhibitory was 58% (P=0.042). The hs‐CRP appeared to be reduced in immuno‐sympathoinhibitory EA treated patients (−6.7±3.1 %, n=5) following 8‐week EA treatment in contrast to patients treated with sympathoinhibitory EA (0.03±0.15%, n=12). Thus, EA targeted towards the immune and sympathetic systems combined may be important in lowering the BP and chronic low grade inflammation in majority of middle‐aged and elderly hypertensive patients. Support or Funding Information Adolph Coors Foundation