Effectiveness of Acupoint Application in Patients with Pharyngeal Pain: Evidence from CHUNBO, A Prospective Real-World Study

• Published in: Chinese journal of integrative medicine 2024, Vol.30 (1), p.18-24
• Main Authors: Ma, Hang-kun, Wang, Yi-ming, Guo, Man-ping, Li, Chen-fei, Li, Rui, Gao, Rui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acupuncture Research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402
• DOI: 10.1007/s11655-023-3699-8

Objective To assess the outcomes after acupoint application in patients with pharyngeal pain in a real-world settings, and analyze the characteristics of effective population and prescription characteristics of acupoint application. Methods Based on CHUNBO platform, patients with pharyngeal pain who were candidates for acupoint application on the basis of physician-evaluation, were enrolled in a nationwide, prospective, 69-week multicenter observational study from August 2020 to February 2022. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to match the confounding factors and the association rules were used to analyze the characteristics of effective population and prescription characteristics of acupoint application. Outcome assessments included the disappearance rate of pharyngeal pain (within 3, 7, and 14 days), disappearance time of pharyngeal pain, as well as adverse events. Results Of 7,699 enrolled participants, 6,693 (86.9%) received acupoint application and 1,450 (21.7%) with non-acupoint application. After PSM, there were 1,004 patients each in the application group (AG) and non-application group (NAG). The disappearance rate of pharyngeal pain in the AG at 3, 7, and 14 days were all higher than those in the NAG ( P