Characteristics of patients with chronic back pain who benefit from acupuncture

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study population

	Individualized acupuncture	Standardized acupuncture	Simulated acupuncture	Usual care	Total
Characteristic	(n = 157)	(n = 158)	(n = 162)	(n = 161)	(n = 638)
Demographics
Age, mean (s.d.)	47 (13)	49 (13)	47 (14)	46 (13)	47 (13)
Gender, % Female	68	56	60	64	62
Education, % College graduate	49	57	56	51	53
Employment
% Not employed*	22	21	22	19	21
% Sedentary job	32	31	30	31	31
% Light or medium lifting job	31	33	31	33	32
% Heavy lifting job	15	15	18	17	16
Back pain history and current episode
Roland score (0-23), mean (s.d.)	10.8 (5.2)	10.8 (5.6)	9.8 (5.2)	11.0 (5.2)	10.6 (5.3)
Bothersomeness score (0-10), mean (s.d.)	5.0 (2.5)	5.0 (2.3)	4.9 (2.4)	5.4 (2.4)	5.1 (2.4)
Duration of chronic low back pain, % 1+ year(s)	69	74	60	70	68
Number of low back pain days in past 3 months, mean (s.d.)	68 (26)	73 (22)	70 (24)	73 (23)	71 (24)
Disability days**, % any	42	43	40	43	42
Pain travels down knee, % Yes	21	22	22	21	21
Prior injection, surgery, or hospitalization for low back pain, % Yes	12	10	10	11	11
Any medication use in past week
% None	38	38	37	35	37
% Narcotics	11	13	11	13	12
% Other	51	49	53	52	51
Mental health
SF-36 Mental Health component score, mean (s.d.)	53 (8)	54 (8)	54 (7)	53 (8)	53 (8)
Self-efficacy and Expectations
Likelihood of self-managing future back pain, % Very likely	3	2	8	6	5
Expectation of acupuncture helpfulness (0-10 scale)
% Lower two tertiles (0-7)	57	53	56	49	54
% Top tertile (8-10)	25	24	28	33	28
% Could not rate	18	23	16	18	19

* Includes homemaker, student, unemployed, and retired.
** Any days spent in bed, lost from work or school, or cutting down on usual activities due to back problems during past month.

ISSN: 1471-2474