Measuring the effects of acupuncture and homoeopathy in general practice: An uncontrolled prospective documentation approach

Table 4 Quality of life pre and post treatment (SF-36 scales)

Acupuncture				Homoeopathy
	Baseline	Post Measurement	Effect sizes (d)$	Baseline	6 months post	Effect sizes (d^$)
Physical Functioning (PF)	N = 4029 mean = 70 SD = 26	N = 3070 mean = 77 SD = 24	d = .28	N = 359 mean = 84 SD = 21	N = 301 mean = 89 SD = 18	d = .24
Role Physical (RP)	N= 3950 mean= 44 SD = 41	N= 3019 mean= 64# SD = 41	d = .49	N= 359 mean= 62 SD = 41	N= 301 mean= 83# SD = 32	d = .51
Bodily Pain (BP)	N= 4220 mean= 36 SD = 26	N= 3147 mean= 49# SD = 27	d = .45	N= 373 mean= 57 SD = 31	N= 312 mean= 73# SD = 30	d = .52
Gen. Health Perception (GH)	N= 4094 mean= 54 SD = 20	N= 3075 mean= 59 SD = 19	d = .26	N= 368 mean= 53 SD = 19	N= 305 mean= 68# SD = 20	d = .79
Vitality (VT)	N= 4214 mean= 46 SD = 19	N= 3140 mean= 54 SD = 19	d = .36	N= 376 mean= 48 SD = 18	N= 309 mean= 61# SD = 19	d = .72
Social Functioning (SF)	N= 4293 mean= 70 SD = 25	N= 3194 mean= 79# SD = 22	d = .37	N= 378 mean= 72 SD = 25	N= 314 mean= 84# SD = 20	d = .48
Role Emotional (RE)	N= 3875 mean= 68 SD = 41	N= 2977 mean= 78# SD = 37	d = .23	N= 356 mean= 73 SD = 39	N= 298 mean= 87# SD = 30	d = .36
Mental Health (MH)	N= 4170 mean= 60 SD = 19	N= 3117 mean= 67 SD = 18	d = .31	N= 376 mean= 59 SD = 18	N= 312 mean= 69# SD = 16	d = .56

# clinically relevant (>=10 % improvement) $ d means effect size according to Cohen, with (MEAN_post - MEAN_baseline)/SD_baseline, d < 0.3 defined as small, d < 0.8 is assumed as being middle-sized, d > 0.8 is regarded as high [17]

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