Initial Effects of Electroacupuncture for Chronic Severe Functional Constipation and the Potential Underlying Factors: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Table 1

Efficacy of EA in patients with CSFC.

Characteristics	EA group	SA group	Total	P-value
	(n=527)	(n=524)	(N=1051)
Patients with CSBM response within the first week of treatment	92 (17.5)	69 (13.2)	161 (15.3)	0.054
Patients with CSBM within the first 24 h of treatment	77 (14.6)	53 (10.1)	130 (12.4)	0.026
Time to first CSBM, days
Mean (SD)	8.4 (10.6)	8.5 (11.6)	8.4 (11.2)
Median (IQR)	4 (1-12)	3 (1-11)	4 (1-12)

EA: electroacupuncture; SA: sham electroacupuncture; CSBM: complete spontaneous bowel movement; IQR: interquartile range.
Data are expressed as number of participants (%) unless otherwise indicated; 24 participants missed the 1-wk defecation diaries but completed all other defecation diaries (9 in the EA group and 15 in the SA group).
A CSBM weekly response was defined as a patient who had ≥3 CSBMs for a given week and an increase from the baseline of ≥1 CSBM for the same week.
Data analysis was not performed due to descriptive purposes only.