Abstract
Objective: Various psychosocial factors were exploratively investigated in order to specify items that influence on immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain.
Method: Fifty-six outpatients with initial diagnosis of chronic low back pain, visiting the Acupuncture Department of Center for Integrative Medicine, Tsukuba University of Technology between August to December 2019 were included in the study. The baseline lumbar pain intensity of the patients evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was >30 mm. Psychological scales viz., Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (PSEQ), social factors (cohabitation family situation, final education, social participation status), lumbar dysfunction, and impression on acupuncture were recorded using a self-administered questionnaire during the first visit. Patients showing decreased VAS scale (≦30 mm) after the first acupuncture treatment as well as self-recognition of improvement in pain were classified as “high responders” while the others were treated as “low responders”. Physical and psychosocial factors were exploratively compared between high and low responders and logistic regression analysis of the two groups was performed using a dichotomous dependent variable.
Results and Discussion: The number of high and low responders were 22 and 34, respectively. On comparing these groups exploratively, positive (P＝0.001) and negative (P＝0.004) impression on acupuncture were the only items that showed statistical significance. Among items used as covariates in the logistic regression analysis, the PCS (OR: 0.886 (95% CI: 0.808 to 0.971); P＝0.010), positive impression on acupuncture (OR: 5.085 (95% CI: 1.724 to 15.002); P＝0.003), and number of people living together (OR: 0.355 (95% CI: 0.149 to 0.844); P＝0.019) showed statistical significance. Hence, it may be suggested that psychosocial factors influence the immediate effect of acupuncture among patients with chronic low back pain.
