Effectiveness of acupuncture at acupoint BL1 (Jingming) in comparison with artificial tears for moderate to severe dry eye disease: a randomized controlled trial

Table 1 Participant baseline characteristics^a

Characteristic	Acupuncture group (n=60)	Artificial tear group (n=60)	P value
Age (years) (mean, 95%CI)	44.16 (35.54 to 49.43)	41.28 (31.78 to 45.78)	0.224
Sex, M/F (No.)	22/38	29/31	0.437
Educational level (No. [%])
Primary education or less	16 (26.7)	11 (18.3)	0.246
Secondary education	38 (63.3)	42 (70.0)	0.413
Tertiary education	6 (10.0)	7 (11.7)	0.421
DED duration, median (IQR), months	26 (6–60)	22 (5–60)	0.249
Profession (No. [%])
Office worker	30 (50.0)	34 (56.7)	0.341
Physical work	12 (20.0)	11 (18.5)	0.512
Retired or unemployed	18 (30.0)	15 (25.0)	0.218
Comorbidities (No. [%])^b
Cardio vascular and cerebro vascular diseases	6 (10.0)	4 (6.7)	0.362
Metabolic disorders	5 (8.3)	6 (10.0)	0.438
Eye conditions	9 (15.0)	7 (11.7)	0.327
Other	2 (3.3)	3 (5.0)	0.357
Sleep disorders (No. [%])	3 (5.0)	3 (5.0)	0.553
SIT	4.37 (3.37 to 5.25)	3.82 (2.84 to 4.86)	0.255
Average symptom NRS (mean, 95%CI)	7.14 (4.29 to 8.85)	6.83 (4.27 to 8.63)	0.316
OSDI (mean, 95%CI)	34.50 (29.15 to 41.23)	32.20 (27.80 to 40.12)	0.426
TBUT (mean, 95%CI)	4.31 (3.38 to 5.25)	4.40 (3.56 to 5.32)	0.418
CFS (mean, 95%CI)	3.25 (2.93 to 3.62)	2.80 (2.56 to 3.08)	0.227

SD standard deviation, DED dry eye disease, SIT Schirmer-I test, NRS numerical rating scale, OSDI ocular surface disease index, TBUT tear break-up time, CFS corneal fluorescence staining, IQR inter-quartile range
^aThere were no significant between-group differences at baseline
^bTwo participants in the acupuncture group and one participant in the artificial tear group had no the records of complications and concomitant medication

ISSN: 1745-6215