Effect of Acupuncture and Moxibustion on Disease Severity in Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a prevalent inflammatory condition with limited effective therapies.Traditional Chinese medicine may offer complementary treatment options.To compare the efficacy of combined acupuncture and moxibustion versus acupuncture alone in reducing disease severity and inflammatory markers in CRS patients.This randomized controlled trial was conducted at the International Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy Medical Sciences, Chengalpattu, India.Sixty CRS patients aged 18-45 years were randomized (1 : 1) into two groups.The study group (n = 30) received acupuncture at EX1 (Yintang), LI4 (Hegu), GB14 (Yangbai), and GB20 (Fengchi) plus moxibustion for 20 minutes, three times weekly for 6 weeks.The control group (n = 30) received identical acupuncture without moxibustion.Primary outcome was the Sino-Nasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22); secondary outcomes included C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).All 60 patients completed the study.The study group demonstrated significantly greater SNOT-22 improvement (29.2 6.64 to 12.9 4.87) compared with controls (27.1 4.53 to 25.6 4.18; p < 0.001).CRP decreased more in the study group (5.53 0.499 to 2.84 0.903 mg/L) versus controls (5.51 0.516 to 5.03 0.413 mg/L; p < 0.001).ESR similarly improved significantly in the study group (53.1 8.75 to 22.9 10.0 mm/h) versus controls (52.2 10.9 to 48.0 10.4 mm/h; p < 0.001).Combined acupuncture and moxibustion demonstrated superior efficacy over acupuncture alone in reducing CRS symptoms and inflammatory markers, supporting moxibustion as a valuable adjunct therapy.