J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2017;10(4):227e228
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- LETTER TO THE EDITOR -
Electrodermal Conductance at Acupuncture
Points and Asthma
KEYWORDS
acupuncture;
asthma;
conductance;
dermis
Dear Editor,
I have read with interest the recent study by Ghosh et al [1]
in your journal. The authors compared the electrodermal
conductance at acupuncture points of asthmatic patients and
that of healthy counterparts. They concluded that the elec-
trodermal conductance was significantly lower in asthmatic
patients and suggested the use of the electrodermal screening
of the lung meridian for assessing the status of asthma. I would
respectfully like to express my thoughts on their study.
1. Dermal water content
The reading of electrodermal conductance measurements
is generally determined by dermal water content, and the
inhaled steroid treatment used by the asthmatic patients
has been reported to cause a decrease in dermal water
content [2]. Furthermore, the resting minute ventilation of
asthmatic patients is 1.5 times more than that of healthy
individuals [3,4] and asthmatics have a tendency toward
oral breathing [5]. These two patterns could exaggerate a
loss of dermal water content in the form of vapor during
breathing among asthmatics.
2. Non-acupoint skin unscreened
The fact that the authors did not measure non-acupoint
electrodermal conductance at all raises doubt over
whether the alteration of electrodermal conductance is
pISSN 2005-2901 eISSN 2093-8152
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jams.2017.05.002
ª 2017 Medical Association of Pharmacopuncture Institute, Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
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detectable only over the acupoints or whether it may be
detectable globally over the patients’ skin.
3. Summary
The severity of asthma could be quantitatively evaluated
with spirometry [6]. The practice of performing additional
screening (i.e., electrodermal conductance) when looking
for a single abnormality may be debatable as higher number
of screenings performed, the higher the chance of obtain-
ing confusable and unnecessary results. It is possible that
the alteration of electrodermal conductance among asth-
matics may occur due to something meaningful outside of
acupoints or meridians. Regardless of my comments, Ghosh
et al [1] presented an appealing study and I would not
hesitate in recommending their article to anyone inter-
ested in traditional Asian medicine.
Disclosure statement
The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest and no
financial interests related to the material of this manuscript.
References
[1] Ghosh K, Hankey A, Srinivasan TM. Electrodermal screening
of asthmatics with AcuGraph 4. J Acupunct Meridian Stud.
2017;10:125e130.
[2] Heitmann BL, Anhøj J, Bisgaard AM, Ward L, Bisgaard H. Changes
in body water distribution during treatment with inhaled steroid
in pre-school children. Ann Hum Biol. 2004;31:333e341.
[3] Daigle CC, Chalupa DC, Gibb FR, Morrow PE, Oberdörster G,
Utell MJ, et al. Ultrafine particle deposition in humans during
rest and exercise. Inhal Toxicol. 2003;15:539e552.
[4] Chalupa DC, Morrow PE, Oberdörster G, Utell MJ,
Frampton MW. Ultrafine particle deposition in subjects with
asthma. Environ Health Perspect. 2004;112:879e882.
228 Letter to the Editor

[5] Hallani M, Wheatley JR, Amis TC. Initiating oral breathing in
response to nasal loading: asthmatics versus healthy subjects.
Eur Respir J. 2008;31:800e806.
[6] Pollart SM, Compton RM, Elward KS. Management of acute
asthma exacerbations. Am Fam Physician. 2011;84:40e47.
*Corresponding author. Health Science Unit (PEC), Hong
Kong Physically Handicapped & Able Bodied Association,
S102, G/F, Lai Lo House, Lai Kok Estate, Shamshuipo,
Kowloon, Hong Kong.
E-mail: pt@hkphab.org.hk

Yiu Ming Wong*

22 March 2017
Health Science Unit (PEC), Hong Kong Physically
Handicapped & Able Bodied Association, Kowloon,
Hong Kong