Authors (including presenting author) :
Tsoi YP (1), Chan OL(2), Law MS(2)
Affiliation :
(1) TWGHs Centre of Integrated Health Management
(2) Department of Anaesthesilogy & Operating Theatre Services, Kwong Wah Hospital
Introduction :
Integrative pain care became a global trend in managing chronic pain. Acupuncture is one of the most well accepted, most evidence based traditional Chinese Medicine approach for chronic pain management. This audit is to review the clinical effectiveness of the integrative pain care involving application of acupuncture in KWH Integrative Pain Clinic (IPC).
Objectives :
To review the clinical effectiveness of TCM acupuncture therapy in Integrative Pain Clinic between 1/6/2024 to 31/12/2024.
Methodology :
All patients who have acupuncture in the review period in IPC was included. A “Pre” and 3 month “Post” acupuncture treatment was analysis. The outcome measures included pain severity and pain interference. The “Pre” and “Post” data was collected by pain nurse. Pair t-test was applied for comparison.
Result & Outcome :
Total 18 subjects (14 Female and 4 Males) were recruited, aged 31-91. 11 out of 18 (61%) had completed the data collection. In average, 7.8 sessions of acupuncture were provided in 3 months. 34.1% pain reduction was reported at the end of the 3 months period.
Pain Score Pre Post t-test, p-value
BPI(Average) 6.5 4.8 0.044 <0.05
BPI (Worst pain in last 24 hours) 7.8 7 0.176 NS
BPI (Least pain in last 24 hours) 5.4 3.8 0.096 NS
BPI (Pain severity) 6.6 5.2 0.073 NS
Pain interference Pre post t-test, p-value
BPI (General activity) 6.2 5.5 0.258 NS
BPI(Mood) 5.2 5.3 0.467 NS
BPI(Walk) 4.8 4.8 0.5 NS
BPI (Normal work) 6.4 4.5 0.029 <0.05
BPI (Relationship with others) 3.2 2.5 0.256 NS
BPI(Sleep) 5.2 5.5 0.431 NS
BPI(Enjoyment) 4.9 5 0.47 NS
Discussion:
There were reported 34.1% pain reduction after a 3-month period which was comparable to the overall effect reported in meta-analysis about acupuncture. There was a significant improvement in the average pain score and concordantly improvement less pain interference in normal work. There were multiple trends of improvement which however not reach statistical significance probably due to relatively small number of subjects recruited during the review period, a wide variation in the case mixed and variable psychosocial burden of the patient.
Conclusion:
Integrative pain care with acupuncture was shown to be effective in reduction of pain and interference of normal work of chronic pain patient in IPC KWH.
