Clinical efficacy evaluation of a traditional Miao technique of crossbow needle therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a multi-center randomized controlled trial

Table 2 Comparison of secondary endpoints for the two groups at three time points after treatment

	CN (n = 149)	AT (n = 152)	P
WOMAC score^a, median (Q1,Q3)
46th day	9 (5, 14)	10 (7, 17)	0.008
62nd day	7 (4, 11)	8 (5, 14.5)	0.003
77th day	6 (3, 11)	11 (5, 16)	< 0.001
Lysholm knee score^b, median (Q1,Q3)
46th day	78 (69, 85)	76 (66, 85)	0.791
62nd day	81 (75, 90)	80 (70, 87)	0.101
77th day	81 (74, 93)	80 (70, 88)	0.030
JOA score^b, median (Q1,Q3)
46 days	90 (85, 95)	90 (80, 95)	0.648
62 days	95 (85, 100)	90 (80, 95)	0.157
77 days	95 (85, 100)	90 (80, 95)	0.013
VAS score^a, median (Q1,Q3)
46 days	30 (17, 40)	30 (20, 43)	0.115
62 days	21 (13, 35)	25 (16, 37)	0.162
77 days	20 (8, 33)	28 (10, 40)	0.011
SF-36 score^b, median (Q1,Q3)
46 days	536.7 (454, 636)	562.9 (464.6, 636)	0.816
62 days	599.3 (514.3, 664)	590 (482.9, 651.6)	0.294
77 days	612.5 (518.2, 674)	585.9 (487.3, 662)	0.179

P represents the comparison between the two groups at the corresponding time points
WOMAC score Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index score, JOA score Japanese Orthopedic Association knee score, VAS visual analog scale, SF-36 the MOS 36-item short-form health survey
^aDisease severity increases as scores rise
^bDisease severity decreases as scores rise

ISSN: 1745-6215