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