Acupuncture for the treatment of severe acute pain in Herpes Zoster: results of a nested, open-label, randomized trial in the VZV Pain Study

Table 2 Comparison of the outcomes of treatments under evaluation.

Outcomes	Standard Therapy (n = 32)	Acupuncture (n = 34)	p*
*Primary outcomes*
VAS
Mean VAS score at baseline (SD)	8.02 (1.69)	7.81 (1.48)	0.6
Mean VAS score after therapy (SD)	3.89 (2.38)	2.96 (1.84)	0.08
Mean change in VAS score (SD)	4.12 (2.29)	4.85 (1.87)	0.12
Response rate (>=2 VAS units decrease), %	81.6	89.2	0.8
*Secondary outcomes*
McGill score
Mean McGill score at baseline (SD)	2.32 (1.05)	2.38 (1.12)	0.8
Mean McGill score after therapy (SD)	0.99 (0.69)	0.99 (0.73)	0.9
Mean change in McGill score (SD)	1.32 (0.85)	1.33 (0.88)	0.9
Post-herpetic neuralgia at 3 months, %	48.4	46.8	0.9
Post-herpetic neuralgia at 6 months, %	33.3	29.0	0.7
Post-herpetic neuralgia at 12 months, %	10.3	3.6	0.3
Mean AUC during follow-up (SD)	199(136)	173(141)	0.5

VAS = Visual Analogical Scale. AUC = Area under the curve (see text for details).
* Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare VAS, McGill and AUC mean scores across groups at each time point, as well as the mean change in each score during the follow-up. Chi-squared test was used to compare the VAS response rate and the prevalence of PHN at each time point across groups. A paired t-test was used to compare baseline vs end of therapy mean values of VAS and McGill scores, within each group. All such differences were highly significant (p < 0.001) and were thus omitted in the table to avoid redundancy.

ISSN: 2662-7671