Efficacy of Acupuncture versus Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill in Treatment of Moderate-to-Severe Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Table 3
Mean (SD) change from baseline of outcome variables in intention-to-treat analysis between acupuncture (ACU) and combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill groups.
Outcome variable
Treatment group
Cycle 1-0
Cycle 2-0
Cycle 3-0
Maximal dysmenorrhea pain scores (NRS)
ACU
−1.74 (1.61)
−2.00 (1.88)
−2.30 (1.90)
COC
−2.92 (2.44)
−3.84 (2.74)
−3.88 (2.52)
Number of days per cycle suffering from dysmenorrhea (days)
ACU
−0.48 (1.28)
−0.63 (1.39)
−0.89 (1.48)
COC
−0.96 (1.30)
−1.16 (1.28)
−1.08 (1.32)
Amount of rescue analgesic used for relief of dysmenorrhea (tablets)
ACU
−2.26 (2.97)
−1.74 (3.25)
−1.96 (2.21)
COC
−1.8 (3.92)
−1.28 (4.42)
−2.52 (3.04)
Quality of life assessed by SF36 (overall score)
ACU
ND
ND
12.38 (13.21)
COC
ND
ND
14.20 (14.43)
Values statistically different from the ACU group ( < 0.05, Student’s -test). NRS: numeric rating scale; ND: not determined.
