Shu-mu point Catgut embedding therapy for abdominal obesity: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Abstract Background Obesity has become a multifactorial epidemic, affecting individuals, families, societies and countries. Abdominal obesity (AO) is the most harmful kind in obesity. Acupoint catgut embedding (ACE), one of an acupuncture therapy, has been widely used in China although it’s efficiency has not been tested by randomized controlled trial (RCT). The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the ACE on AO. Methods This is a blinding, RCT. A total of ninety-two patients who met the inclusion criteria for this trial will be enrolled from two independent hospitals and randomly assigned to shu-mu point group and non-acupoint group. ACE will be conducted once every two weeks, three times for one course. There will be a total of two courses in the whole treatment, and a follow-up will be performed in the fourth week after the end of treatment. The primary outcomes are weight and waist circumference (WC). The secondary outcomes are body mass index (BMI), hip circumference (HC), Quality of Life Scale (SF-36), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Discussion The results of this study will be obtained by RCT, and the outcomes will be analyzed to prove that ACE is effective and safe for AO. The results of this study will be derived from RCT. We expect that this experiment will evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ACE for AO, and will also observe the changes in the physical conditions of patients before and after the treatment from the two groups.