Electroacupuncture versus Moxibustion for Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized, Parallel-Controlled Trial

Table 4

Subgroup analysis of different IBS subtypes’ differentials in 5-HT4R expression before and after treatment (mean ± SD).

Group	IBS subtypes		Before treatment	After treatment	Differentials
EA	IBS-D	17	65.56 ± 15.82	47.03 ± 10.21^▲	−18.53 ± 7.77
	IBS-C	17	18.37 ± 7.83	32.39 ± 8.78^▲	14.03 ± 6.41
	IBS-A/M	4	37.07 ± 8.19	35.03 ± 7.68	−2.04 ± 4.78
Mox	IBS-D	18	62.88 ± 12.00	41.99 ± 8.70^▲	−20.88 ± 8.02
	IBS-C	17	22.42 ± 9.69	25.57 ± 10.31^▲	3.14 ± 1.97
	IBS-A/M	5	32.62 ± 14.81	28.67 ± 13.23^△	−3.94 ± 2.13

versus before the treatment; versus before the treatment, ; versus the Mox group. EA: electroacupuncture; Mox: moxibustion; SD: standard deviation; IBS-C: irritable bowel syndrome with constipation; IBS-D: irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea; IBS-M: mixed irritable bowel syndrome (with both diarrhoea and constipation >25% of bowel movements); and IBS-A: alternating irritable bowel syndrome (bowel habits often vary over time).