Electroacupuncture for Women with Chronic Severe Functional Constipation: Subgroup Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Figure 1

Weekly responders rate in the electroacupuncture and the sham-acupuncture groups from week 1 to week 20. Responders were defined as patients achieving at least 3 complete spontaneous bowel movements (CSBMs)/week and, at the same time, an increase of at least 1 CSBM/week compared to the baseline according to the guideline of European Medicines Agency [13]. 12 participants in the EA group and 26 in the SA group were treated as nonresponders. The differences in weekly responders between two groups were significant from week 2 till the end of the follow-up periods (P<0.01 for all) (Supplementary Table 1).