Heat-sensitive Moxibustion Self-administration in Patients in the Community With Primary Hypertension: Protocol for a Multi-center, Pragmatic, Non-randomized Trial

Heat-sensitive Moxibustion Self-administration in Patients in the Community With Primary Hypertension: Protocol for a Multi-center, Pragmatic, Non-randomized Trial

Heat-sensitive Moxibustion Self-administration in Patients in the Community With Primary Hypertension: Protocol for a Multi-center, Pragmatic, Non-randomized Trial

Nangang community healthcare center (Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, China), Honggutan community healthcare center (Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, China), Shengmi community healthcare center (Nanchang city, Jiangxi province, China), Gaofu town community healthcare center (Fu Zhou city, Jiangxi province, China)

Heat-sensitive moxibustion is considered to be effective for primary hypertension in hospital setting. This study aims to investigate whether heat-sensitive moxibustion self-administration is effective for lowering blood pressure and improving quality of life for patients with primary hypertension in community setting using a multicenter, prospective, non-randomized study design

Primary hypertension is a global health issue with high incidence; it affected approximately 1.13 billion people worldwide and directly or indirectly causing an 10.4 million of death yearly. The routine drugs for primary hypertension are limited by adverse effects and expensive costs. Therefore, complementary and alternative medicine with good efficacy and safety and low expenditure is still needed for primary hypertension, especially in poverty-stricken areas. Heat-sensitive moxibustion is an innovative therapy developed on the basis of traditional moxibustion. Compared with traditional moxibustion, heat-sensitive moxibustion advocates finding heat-sensitive acupoints where patients have special reactions to moxibustion heat, including diathermy, heat transfer, soreness, etc. The application of moxibustion on heat-sensitive acupoints (i.e., heat-sensitive moxibustion) has been shown to be more effective to traditional moxibustion for many diseases, including primary hypertension. Moreover, compared with acupuncture, heat-sensitive moxibustion has a main advantage that moxibustion does not require professional qualifications and patients can self-administer moxibustion after professional training. However, the current evidence is generated only from hospital settings. Therefore, this study is specifically designed to investigate whether heat-sensitive moxibustion self-administration is an effective intervention for lowering blood pressure and improving quality of life for patients with primary hypertension in community setting.

In this arm, patients will administer heat-sensitive moxibustion by themselves or by the help of their family after professional training. Patients will maintain their original antihypertensive drugs. The periods of treatment and follow-up will be one year.

In this arm, patients will maintain their original antihypertensive drugs. The periods of treatment and follow-up will be one year.

Including 27 items and assessing impacts of hypertension on on the three dimensions, physical (18 items), psychological (4 items) and family-social (5 items). Each item is classified as five grades (0-4 points). The total score ranges from 0 to 108 points. A higher score indicates a worse quality of life.

Including 18 items. Each item is classified as five grades (0-4 points). The total score ranges from 0 to 72 points. A higher score indicates a worse quality of life.

Including 4 items. Each item is classified as five grades (0-4 points). The total score ranges from 0 to 16 points. A higher score indicates a worse quality of life.

Including 5 items. Each item is classified as five grades (0-4 points). The total score ranges from 0 to 20 points. A higher score indicates a worse quality of life.

Inclusion Criteria: Meet the diagnostic criteria of primary hypertension 18 to 70 years old Sign the informed consent Exclusion Criteria: Secondary hypertension caused by kidney disease, macrovascular disease, pregnancy, endocrine disease, brain disease, drug-induced factors, etc. Allergic to moxibustion equipment, moxa smoke or moxa Pregnancy or lactation A history of serious cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events such as cerebrovascular accidents and myocardial infarction Complicated by liver and kidney dysfunction indicated by total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, or blood creatinine are more than 2 times upper limit of normal value Complicated by malignant tumors Complicated by major mental disorders

The individual participant data (IPD) of this study will be available from the principal investigator on reasonable request.

Zhou X, Wu Q, Zhang G, Wang Y, Li S, Wang B, Chen Z, Zhu W, Wang F, Gan C. Heat-sensitive moxibustion self-administration in patients in the community with primary hypertension: A protocol for a multi-center, pragmatic, non-randomized trial. Medicine (Baltimore). 2020 Sep 18;99(38):e22230. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000022230.