Acupuncture for Promoting Intelligence of Children -- An Observation on 37 Cases with Mental Retardation

Objective： To observe the effect of acupuncture on intelligence quotient （IQ） in children with mental retardation （MR）. Methods： One hundred children with MR were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a control group, 50 in each. There were 37 and 36 cases with complete data in the former and latter group respectively. Four-week treatment constituted a course, the comprehensive therapeutic effect of two groups was compared after 3 courses of treatment, and the influence of acupuncture on IQ was estimated. Results： The total effective rate in the acupuncture group was 78.4%, better than 30.56% in the control group, the difference being significant （P〈0.01）. Both groups were improved in IQ but the effect of the former group was better than that of the latter group （P〈0.05）. Conclusion： Acupuncture can obviously improve IQ of children suffering from MR.