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Table 1 Characteristics of women allocated to manual acupuncture (MA), electro-acupuncture (EA), and standard care (SC), and their infants

From: Acupuncture with manual and electrical stimulation for labour pain: a longitudinal randomised controlled trial

 

Randomised

Analysed

Characteristics

MA (n = 99)

EA (n = 103)

SC (n = 101)

MA (n = 83)

EA (n = 87)

SC (n = 83)

Socio-demographic background

      

 Age (years), mean (SD)

26.5 (4.7)

27.7 (4.6)

28.1 (5.1)

26.5 (4.8)

27.6 (4.6)

28.3 (5.0)

 Born in Sweden (%)

91.3

89.8

90.7

91.3

89.7

90.2

 Higher education (%)

35.0

45.5

53.5

35

44.8

54.2

 Solo parent (%)

15.2

19.4

15.8

14.5

18.4

15.7

 Smoking 3 months prior to admission to antenatal clinic (%)

26.7

23.1

20.5

23.0

19.5

19.7

 Body mass index in early pregnancy, mean (SD)

24.7 (4.8)

24.2 (3.9)

25.1 (4.1)

24.4 (5.0)

24.2 (3.8)

24.9 (4.1)

Previous acupuncture experience

      

 Yes, for pain (%)

17.1

23.8

14.5

17.1

24.1

13.7

 Yes, for other than pain (%)

17.1

15.3

13.3

17.1

15.5

12.5

Status at admission to labour ward

      

 Gestational week, mean

40 + 0

40 + 0

40 + 0

40 + 0

39 + 6

40 + 0

 Undiagnosed breach presentation (%)

0

0

1

0

0

1.2

 Cervix dilatation (cm), mean (SD)

3.6 (1.6)

4.0 (1.7)

3.6 (1.7)

3.6 (1.5)

4 (1.6)

3.6 (1.8)

 Rupture of membranes (%)

30.1

28.4

33.3

30.5

28.7

33.3

 Pharmacological pain relief prior to recruitment, except for paracetamol (%)

4.0

2.9

11.9

2.4

3.4

8.4

 Treatment with oxytocin at the time point of allocation (%)

1.0

1.9

1.0

1.2

2.3

0

Infant

      

 Head circumference (cm), mean (SD)

35.0 (1.4)

35.0 (1.3)

35.0 (1.3)

34.9 (1.4)

34.9 (1.3)

35 (1.3)

 Birth weight (grams), mean (SD)

3509 (408)

3593 (451)

3656 (488)

3508 (410)

3590 (456)

3654 (493)

  1. MA = Manual acupuncture. EA = Electro-acupuncture. SC = Standard care, SD = Standard deviation.