Napadow V, Kaptchuk TJ.
Patient characteristics for outpatient acupuncture in Beijing, China. J Altern Complement Med 2004;10(3):565-72.
AbstractOBJECTIVES: This study quantifies and compares patient characteristics in outpatient acupuncture.
SETTING/DESIGN: Prospective primary source evidence was gathered at two prominent outpatient acupuncture clinics in Beijing, China (n = 563, n = 233).
RESULTS: The most common condition was Bell's palsy, which represented 20.6% and 25.3% of total cases at the two clinics, respectively. The second most common condition was cerebrovascular accident (CVA) rehabilitation. These treatments represented 11.9% and 12.0% of treatments at the two clinics, respectively. Other trends at the clinics included the following: (1) neurologic complaints predominated; (2) doctors see a large number of patients per day; (3) the majority of patients overall were female; while (4) the majority of patients treated for CVAs rehabilitation were male. As cultural and socioeconomic differences in perceptions of acupuncture exist between peoples of different countries, this study also compared patient main complaints in China to available data on acupuncture patients seen in other parts of China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Except for the German clinic data, Western clinic acupuncturists saw more musculoskeletal complaints compared to China, where neurologic complaints predominated. Another significant difference between Asian and Western clinics was the number of patients seen per hour. While acupuncturists were reported to see 1.2 patients per hour in U. S. clinics, acupuncturists at the two Beijing, China, clinics saw 7.0 and 10.4 patients per hour, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The main complaints seen in acupuncture outpatient clinics throughout the world likely result from a combination of inherent disease prevalence as well as patients' attitudes toward what acupuncture can treat successfully.
napadow_jacm_2004.pdf Napadow V, Liu J, Kaptchuk TJ.
A systematic study of acupuncture practice: acupoint usage in an outpatient setting in Beijing, China. Complement Ther Med 2004;12(4):209-16.
AbstractAcupuncture textbooks mention a wide assortment of indications for each acupuncture point and, conversely, each disease or indication can be treated by a wide assortment of acupoints. However, little systematic information exists on how acupuncture is actually used in practice: i.e. which points are actually selected and for which conditions. This study prospectively gathered data on acupuncture point usage in two primarily acupuncture hospital clinics in Beijing, China. Of the more than 150 unique acupoints, the 30 most commonly used points represented 68% of the total number of acupoints needled at the first clinic, and 63% of points needled at the second clinic. While acupuncturists use a similar set of most prevalent points, such as LI-4 (used in >65% of treatments at both clinic sites), this core of points only partially overlaps. These results support the hypothesis that while the most commonly used points are similar from one acupuncturist to another, each practitioner tends to have certain acupoints, which are favorites as core points or to round out the point prescription. In addition, the results of this study are consistent with the recent development of "manualized" protocols in randomized controlled trials of acupuncture where a fixed set of acupoints are augmented depending on individualized signs and symptoms (TCM patterns).
napadow_ctm_2004.pdf