Efficacy Study of Acupuncture on Asymptomatic Hyperuricemia

hyperuricemia (HUA) is an important risk factor for various chronic diseases, such as gout, and the current treatment programs for HUA are not ideal. It is urgent to find new methods to prevent and treat HUA and to carry out early clinical intervention. Acupuncture is commonly used for the treatment of HUA, while the evidence for its efficacy is still uncertain. This clinical trial aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of manual acupuncture for asymptomatic HUA.

This is a multicentre, stratified, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial. 180 eligible participants will be randomly allocated into verum acupuncture group or sham acupuncture group, in a 1:1 ratio. The verum acupuncture group will receive 16 sessions of manual acupuncture treatments over an eight-week period, while the sham acupuncture group will receive sham acupuncture treatments with non-penetrating needling. Health education will be provided to participants in the two groups. The primary outcomes will be the changes in the mean levels of serum uric acid 8 weeks after randomization. The secondary outcomes will be the changes in the mean levels of serum uric acid 4, 12, 16, and 20 weeks after randomization. Other secondary outcomes included effective rates, the proportion of patients with acute gouty arthritis, changes in body weight and BMI, safety evaluation and deqi evaluation. The central randomization and data collection will be conducted by an electronic data management system.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosed as hyperuricemia; and
* Fasting blood uric acid level ≥ 7-11.0 mg/dL after 1 month of low-purine diet; and
* Without history of gouty arthritis; and
* Without drug treatment for hyperuricemia or stop uric acid-lowering drug treatment ≥12 weeks; and
* 18.5kg/m2≤BMI≤30.0kg/ m2; and
* Able to signing a informed consent.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Those who are using or have used one of the following drugs for the treatment of hyperuricemia 12 weeks before eligibility evaluation, such as: allopurinol, benzbromarone, probesulfan, bugelone, toppirosteine, Busotan; and
* Patients are using or used other drugs that affect uric acid metabolism in the past 12 weeks, such as: thiazide diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, compound reserpine, pyrazinamide, nitrates fendipine, propranolol, and benzbromarone; and
* Patients have history of gouty arthritis; and
* Combined with secondary hyperurmicema, such as bone marrow and lymphoproliferative diseases, tumor radiotherapy and chemotherapy, liver cirrhosis and drug-induced hyperurmicema; and
* Combined with one of the following comorbidities: hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, severe liver and kidney damage (≥CKD stage 2, or high creatinine, urea, glutamate, glutamate ≥ 2 times of the limit of clinical normal values); and
* Combined with severe neuropsychological diseases, such as severe anxiety, depression, and intellectual disability; and
* Pregnant women; and
* Unwilling to accept acupuncture treatment; and
* Illiterate, or patients unable to sign informed consent; and
* The completion rate of baseline screening data is ≤80%.