Analysis of Factors Influencing the Efficiency of Acupuncture in Tinnitus Patients

Table 3

Comparison between two groups of patients who received different acupuncture treatments for tinnitus.

Characteristics	PA group	PADA group	P value
	(n = 38)	(n = 69)
Sex (female/male ratio)	1.24	1.23	1
Age (more than 65)	9 (23.68%)	28 (40.58%)	0.092
BMI	23.28 ± 2.93	23.63 ± 3.34	0.471
Affected side (bilateral)	18 (47.378%)	40 (57.97%)	0.317
Duration of tinnitus (longer than 3 months)	29 (76.31%)	54 (78.26%)	0.813
History of nasopharyngeal carcinoma	1 (2.63%)	4 (5.80%)	0.654
History of radiotherapy	2 (5.26%)	6 (8.70%)	0.709
Ear drum perforation	1 (2.63%)	1 (1.45%)	1
Chronic otitis media	0	4 (5.80%)	0.295
Cigarette smoking	6 (15.79%)	12 (17.39%)	1
Alcohol drinking	5 (13.16%)	6 (8.70%)	0.515
Betel nut chewing	3 (7.89%)	2 (2.90%)	0.345
Anemia†	8 (21.62%)	11 (17.19%)	0.605
Thyroid dysfunction‡	0	5 (8.47%)	0.158
Hypertriglyceridemia§	4 (11.11%)	14 (21.88%)	0.278
Hypercholesterolemia∥	14 (38.89%)	33 (51.56%)	0.297
Syphilis	1 (2.78%)	0	0.371
Diabetes mellitus#	7 (18.92%)	12 (17.65%)	1
Insomnia	20 (52.63%)	33 (47.83%)	0.689
Cerebrovascular accident	3 (8.11%)	5 (7.25%)	1
Acupuncture sessions(≥17)	14 (36.8%)	30 (43.5%)	0.544
Audiometry, left side††
500 Hz, dBnHL	17.16 ± 13.57	15.67 ± 12.82	0.579
1000 Hz, dBnHL	22.84 ± 18.20	19.10 ± 15.07	0.265
2000 Hz, dBnHL	28.11 ± 21.19	22.31 ± 18.10	0.145
4000 Hz, dBnHL	42.97 ± 24.25	35.15 ± 22.56	0.102
8000 Hz, dBnHL	54.32 ± 28.65	45.98 ± 24.86	0.125
PB score, %	96.0 ± 9.61	96.66 ± 8.37	0.717
Audiometry, right side††
500 Hz, dBnHL	16.49 ± 13.17	16.57 ± 17.15	0.980
1000 Hz, dBnHL	20.95 ± 16.74	19.25 ± 20.27	0.666
2000 Hz, dBnHL	24.86 ± 17.30	23.13 ± 21.56	0.676
4000 Hz, dBnHL	39.73 ± 23.18	35.22 ± 25.01	0.369
8000 Hz, dBnHL	51.89 ± 28.66	45.08 ± 27.95	0.250
PB score, %	95.89 ± 13.54	92.90 ± 21.18	0.438

BMI: body mass index; PA: periauricular acupoints; PADA: periauricular acupoints + distal acupoints; dBnHL: decibel above normal hearing level; PB: phonetically balanced.
One piece of missing data of BMI (n = 106).
†Six pieces of missing data in the group of anemia (n = 101).
‡Sixteen pieces of missing data in the group of thyroid dysfunction (n = 91).
§Seven pieces of missing data in the group of hypertriglyceridemia (n = 100).
∥Seven pieces of missing data in the group of hypercholesterolemia (n = 100).
Ten pieces of missing data in the group of syphilis (n = 97).
#Two pieces of missing data in the group of diabetes (n = 105).
One piece of missing data in the group of cerebrovascular accident (n = 106).
††Three pieces of missing data of audiometry (n = 104).