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Table 2 Effects of Prolotherapy, Physiotherapy, and Combined treatments on primary and secondary outcomes at all time points over 1 year follow-up

From: Prolotherapy injections and physiotherapy used singly and in combination for lateral epicondylalgia: a single-blinded randomised clinical trial

Outcome

Prolotherapy

Combined

Physiotherapy

Combined vs Prolotherapy

Physiotherapy vs Prolotherapy

Physiotherapy vs Combined

PRTEE, /100 Mean (SD)

Mean improvement from baseline (95% CI)

0 weeks

31.6 (10.3)

31.3 (10.8)

33.5 (10.0)

6 weeks

24.5 (14.6)

18.3 (12.2)

19.7 (14.3)

5.35 (−1.77, 12.5)

6.31 (−0.83, 13.5)

0.96 (− 6.23, 8.16)

12 weeks

18.2 (13.5)

12.4 (10.1)

12.2 (12.4)

5.21 (− 0.99, 11.4)

7.42 (1.51, 13.3)*

2.21 (−4.29, 8.70)

26 weeks

8.9 (8.2)

8.2 (10.5)

9.3 (10.4)

−0.11 (−6.21, 5.99)

1.01 (−4.56, 6.58)

1.12 (−4.99, 7.24)

52 weeks

4.9 (7.4)

3.9 (5.5)

4.4 (7.0)

0.35 (−4.91, 5.61)

2.10 (−3.31, 7.51)

1.75 (−2.94, 6.45)

Pain at rest, /10

   

0 weeks

2.0 (1.6)

1.8 (1.5)

2.1 (2.0)

6 weeks

1.9 (2.0)

1.3 (1.9)

1.5 (1.5)

0.4 (−0.7, 1.4)

0.7 (− 0.2, 1.7)

0.4 (− 0.6, 1.3)

12 weeks

0.8 (1.3)

0.8 (1.2)

1.0 (1.5)

−0.3 (−1.04, 0.5)

0.0 (− 0.8, 0.8)

0.3 (− 0.5, 1.0)

26 weeks

0.3 (0.7)

0.5 (1.7)

0.8 (1.3)

−0.4 (−1.2, 0.5)

− 0.3 (− 1.2, 0.5)

0.1 (− 0.9, 1.0)

52 weeks

0.2 (0.5)

0.2 (0.5)

0.2 (0.6)

− 0.2 (− 0.9, 0.5)

0.1 (− 0.6, 0.9)

0.3 (− 0.4, 1.1)

Worst pain in the last week, /10

   

0 weeks

7.4 (1.6)

6.1 (2.4)

7.3 (2.0)

6 weeks

5.4 (2.2)

3.7 (2.3)

3.7 (2.6)

0.2 (−0.9, 1.4)

1.5 (0.5, 2.6)*

1.3 (0.1, 2.5)*

12 weeks

4.0 (2.5)

3.0 (2.1)

2.5 (2.6)

−0.4 (−1.6, 0.8)

1.4 (0.2, 2.6)*

1.7 (0.6, 2.9)*

26 weeks

2.0 (2.0)

2.1 (2.1)

1.6 (2.1)

−1.5 (−2.7, −0.2)*

0.2 (− 1.1, 1.5)

1.7 (0.3, 3.0)*

52 weeks

1.1 (2.0)

0.9 (1.6)

0.9 (1.6)

−1.1 (−2.3, 0.1)

0.0 (− 1.0, 1.1)

1.1 (0.0, 2.2)*

PFG, affected/unaffected ratio

   

0 weeks

0.56 (0.34)

0.55 (0.32)

0.64 (0.55)

6 weeks

0.87 (0.57)

0.84 (0.66)

0.80 (0.34)

−0.03 (−0.30, 0.24)

−0.11 (− 0.37, 0.15)

−0.08 (− 0.31, 0.15)

12 weeks

0.79 (0.31)

0.81 (0.46)

1.00 (0.50)

0.02 (−0.16, 0.19)

0.12 (−0.13, 0.37)

0.10 (− 0.14, 0.34)

26 weeks

0.92 (0.23)

0.89 (0.39)

1.03 (0.35)

−0.03 (− 0.22, 0.17)

0.03 (− 0.22, 0.27)

0.05 (− 0.20, 0.31)

52 weeks

1.01 (0.16)

0.96 (0.23)

1.05 (0.25)

−0.05 (− 0.21, 0.12)

−0.05 (− 0.27, 0.18)

−0.002 (− 0.22, 0.22)

EuroQoL, /100

   

0 weeks

82.7 (12.9)

83.1 (11.2)

80.4 (16.9)

6 weeks

80.6 (11.8)

83.0 (11.6)

83.9 (13.4)

1.6 (−5.5, 8.6)

4.9 (−4.2, 14.0)

3.3 (−5.3, 11.9)

12 weeks

83.1 (9.9)

86.2 (8.9)

85.9 (13.6)

2.4 (−4.1, 8.8)

4.9 (−3.8, 13.6)

2.5 (−5.7, 10.8)

26 weeks

86.3 (12.1)

87.8 (8.9)

87.2 (12.7)

0.9 (−6.5, 8.4)

2.6 (−7.1, 12.3)

1.7 (−7.1, 10.5)

52 weeks

88.5 (9.3)

86.9 (11.3)

85.3 (17.3)

−2.4 (−9.1, 4.3)

−1.2 (−11.6, 9.3)

1.2 (−8.7, 11.2)

Success, number of events/total sample size (percentage)

 

RR (95% CI)

 

6 weeks

4/22 (18.2%)

8/26 (30.8%)

10/26 (38.5%)

1.69 (0.59, 4.87)

2.12 (0.77, 5.81)

1.25 (0.59, 2.66)

12 weeks

13/28 (46.4%)

19/35 (54.3%)

19/33 (57.6%)

1.17 (0.71, 1.93)

1.24 (0.76, 2.03)

1.06 (0.70, 1.62)

26 weeks

26/36 (72.2%)

27/35 (77.1%)

25/34 (73.5%)

1.07 (0.81, 1.40)

1.02 (0.77, 1.36)

0.95 (0.73, 1.25)

52 weeks

32/35 (91.4%)

31/33 (93.9%)

28/34 (82.4%)

1.03 (0.90, 1.17)

0.90 (0.75, 1.09)

0.88 (0.73, 1.05)

Recurrence, number of events/total sample size (percentage)

 

RR (95% CI)

 

12 weeks

4/26 (15.4%)

8/30 (26.7%)

6/30 (20.0%)

1.73 (0.59, 5.10)

1.30 (0.41, 4.11)

0.75 (0.30, 1.90)

26 weeks

5/32 (15.6%)

9/35 (25.7%)

6/34 (17.6%)

1.65 (0.62, 4.40)

1.13 (0.38, 3.34)

0.69 (0.27, 1.72)

52 weeks

5/34 (14.7%)

10/32 (31.3%)

8/34 (23.5%)

2.13 (0.82, 5.54)

1.60 (0.58, 4.40)

0.75 (0.34, 1.67)

  1. Combined = prolotherapy+physiotherapy; Success = completely recovered or much improved on the global rating of change scale; PFG = pain-free grip; PRTEE = Patient-Rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation; RR = relative risk; CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation
  2. * p < 0.05; between-group comparisons data from GEE analyses with positive results in favour of the first group; RR > 1.0 favours the first group; RR < 1.0 favours the first group