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

Vixner, Linda; Schytt, Erica; Stener-Victorin, Elisabet; Waldenström, Ulla; Pettersson, Hans; Mårtensson, Lena B

doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-187

BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

Table 3 Estimated pain on VAS, and background factors associated with experienced pain

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

Factor	Category	Valid observations N	Unadjusted Mean Estimates (SE)	Mean difference¹(95% CI for difference)	p ²	Adjusted³Mean Estimates (SE)	Mean difference¹(95% CI for difference)	p ²
Treatment					0.51			0.45
	SC (Ref)	561	67.6 (1.5)	Ref		69.0 (1.8)	Ref
	MA	455	65.2 (1.5)	2.4 (-1.7-6.6)	0.25	66.4 (2.0)	2.6 (-1.7-6.9)	0.23
	EA	455	66.4 (1.5)	1.2 (-2.9-5.3)	0.57	68.5 (2.0)	0.6 (-3.6-4.8)	0.79
Age					0.03			0.04
	≤25 (Ref)	555	69.2 (1.4)	Ref		72.0 (1.8)	Ref
	26-34	819	65.1 (1.2)	4.1 (0.6-7.7)	0.02	67.9 (1.4)	4.1 (0.6-7.7)	0.04
	35+	97	61.9 (3.3)	7.3 (0.3-14.3)	0.04	64.0 (3.3)	7.3 (0.3-14.3)	0.01
					0.21			0.82
Higher education	No (Ref)	796	67.3 (1.2)	Ref		68.2 (1.7)	Ref
	Yes	661	65.1 (1.3)	2.2 (-1.3-5.6)	0.21	67.7 (1.9)	2.5 (-1.3-5.6)	0.82
Time baseline (min)					0.00			0.00
	0-30 (Ref)	246	64.5 (1.3)	Ref		63.1 (1.6)	Ref
	31-60	38	58.6 (2.4)	5.9 (1.4-10.4)	0.01	57.1 (2.6)	6.0 (1.5-10.5)	0.01
	61-90	143	60.9 (1.6)	3.7 (0.5-6.8)	0.02	59.4 (1.8)	3.7 (0.5-6.9)	0.02
	91-120	193	62.5 (1.4)	2.0 (-1.2-5.3)	0.22	61.1 (1.7)	2.1 (-1.2-5.3)	0.22
	121-150	180	66.1 (1.5)	-1.6 (-5.1-1.9)	0.37	64.8 (1.7)	-1.7 (-5.2-1.8)	0.35
	151-180	157	68.0 (1.6)	-3.5 (-7.3-0.3)	0.07	66.7 (1.8)	-3.6 (-7.4-0.2)	0.06
	181-210	139	68.0 (1.6)	-3.4 (-7.4-0.6)	0.09	66.6 (1.9)	-3.5 (-7.5-0.5)	0.09
	211-240	91	70.6 (1.9)	-6.0 (-10.6 - -1.6)	0.01	69.2 (2.1)	-6.1 (-10.6 - -1.6)	0.01
	241-270	71	72.8 (2.2)	-8.2 (-13.2 - -3.3)	0.00	71.4 (2.4)	-8.2 (-13.2 - -3.3)	0.00
	271-300	52	71.0 (2.5)	-6.5 (-12.0 - -0.9)	0.02	69.6 (2.7)	-6.5 (-12.0 - -1.0)	0.02
	301-330	50	70.6 (2.6)	-6.1 (-11.9 - -0.3)	0.04	69.2 (2.8)	-6.1 (-12.0 - -0.3)	0.04
	331-360	38	72.2 (3.0)	-7.7 (-14.1 - -1.3)	0.02	70.9 (3.1)	-7.8 (-14.2 - -1.4)	0.02
	361-390	21	78.6 (3.8)	-14.1 (-22.0- -6.2)	0.00	77.4 (3.9)	-14.3 (-22.2 - -6.4)	0.00
	391-420	19	70.0 (4.1)	-5.4 (-13.9-3.0)	0.21	68.8 (4.2)	-5.6 (-14.1-2.8)	0.19
	421-450	15	84.7 (4.6)	-20.2 (-29.6 - -10.7)	0.00	83.8 (4.7)	-20.7 (-30.2 - -11.2)	0.00
	451-480	18	69.5 (4.5)	-5.0 (-14.3-4.3)	0.29	68.2 (4.6)	-5.0 (-14.4-4.3)	0.29

The main result is presented as the estimated VAS score for pain and corresponding standard error. VAS = Visual analogue scale. SC = Standard care. MA = Manual acupuncture. EA = Electro-acupuncture. Ref = reference category. ¹Reference category-other category^{. 2}Left-centered p-values represent overall comparisons between the levels of the factors while right-centred represent pairwise comparisons between each level with the reference level. ³Adjusted for: treatment group, age, education, and time from baseline, with no interactions.

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