Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine, Korean Medicine Hospital, Pusan National University, Yangsan, South Korea.
Acupunct Med. 2013 Jun;31(2):228-34. doi: 10.1136/acupmed-2012-010257. Epub 2013 Feb 28.
This study aimed to identify the descriptive characteristics of patients with pain conditions who visited an academic medical centre for traditional Korean medicine (TKM).
This work was a retrospective review of the electronic medical records of patients who received at least one session of acupuncture for pain management from March 2010 to February 2012 in the Korean medical hospital of Pusan National University. Demographic characteristics and data on patient conditions, treatment interventions received and costs associated with acupuncture treatments were analysed.
We identified a total of 2167 patients, including 2105 outpatients and 237 inpatients. The mean age (SD) of the patients was 52.0 (15.3) years, and approximately two-thirds of the patients were women (64.0%). The average number of acupuncture treatment sessions was 8.0 (6.6 for outpatients and 14.5 for inpatients). The most treated conditions were low back pain (30.5%), neck pain (23.9%) and shoulder pain (17.5%). Interventions included needle acupuncture with manual (52.6%) or electrical (47.4%) stimulation, herbal medicine (44.2%), cupping (21.2%) and moxibustion (3.5%). Over one-third of outpatients (33.5%) received at least six sessions of acupuncture. The median total cost of each outpatient and inpatient care per person was 169 604 and 1 001 707 Korean Won (approximately £98 and £577), respectively.
Acupuncture was primarily used for the treatment of low back, neck and shoulder pain with a wide range of related interventions at an academic medical centre for traditional Korean medicine. These data reflect real clinical practice and should inform the design of future prospective clinical research of acupuncture.
本研究旨在确定在学术医疗中心接受传统韩国医学（TKM）治疗的疼痛患者的描述性特征。
这是一项对 2010 年 3 月至 2012 年 2 月在釜山国立大学韩国医学医院接受至少一次针灸治疗以管理疼痛的患者的电子病历进行的回顾性分析。分析了人口统计学特征以及患者病情、接受的治疗干预措施和与针灸治疗相关的费用数据。
我们共确定了 2167 名患者，其中 2105 名为门诊患者，237 名为住院患者。患者的平均年龄（标准差）为 52.0（15.3）岁，约有三分之二的患者为女性（64.0%）。平均接受的针灸治疗次数为 8.0 次（门诊患者为 6.6 次，住院患者为 14.5 次）。治疗最多的疾病是下腰痛（30.5%）、颈痛（23.9%）和肩痛（17.5%）。干预措施包括针具针刺，辅以手动（52.6%）或电刺激（47.4%）、草药（44.2%）、拔罐（21.2%）和艾灸（3.5%）。超过三分之一的门诊患者（33.5%）接受了至少六次针灸治疗。每位门诊和住院患者的平均总费用分别为 169604 和 1001707 韩元（约合 98 英镑和 577 英镑）。
在学术医疗中心，针灸主要用于治疗下腰痛、颈痛和肩痛，同时还采用了广泛的相关干预措施。这些数据反映了真实的临床实践情况，应该为未来针灸的前瞻性临床研究设计提供信息。
