Table 1.
Demographics and baseline characteristics
| Characteristics | IS group (n=46) | HC group (n=34) | P value | |
| HA group (n=30) | NA group (n=16) | |||
| Gender, n (%) (male/female)* |
31 (67.39)/15 (32.61) | 21 (61.76)/13 (38.24) | 0.602 | |
| Age, mean (SD), years (male/female)† |
57.57 (13.68)/62.89 (9.79) | 58.00 (9.89)/62.67 (5.50) | 50.76 (10.89)/56.31 (6.33) | 0.082/0.069 0.086/0.050 |
| Location of lesion, n (%) (left/right)* |
15 (50.00)/15 (50.00) | 7 (43.75)/9 (56.25) | 0.686 | |
| Severity of motor impairment, n (%) (mild to moderated/severed)* |
20 (66.67)/10 (33.33) | 11 (68.75)/5 (31.25) | 0.886 | |
| Duration, median (IQR), days ‡ | 11.50 (7.00–20.50) | 12.50 (4.30–34.80) | 0.936 | |
| HAMD, median (IQR), scores‡ | 6.00 (2.00–13.00) | 7.50 (4.00–11.80) | 0.835 | |
| MMSE, median (IQR), scores‡ | 28.00 (24.80–29.00) | 27.00 (24.30–29.80) | 0.953 | |
| NIHSS, median (IQR), scores‡ | 3.00 (1.00–5.00) | 2.50 (1.00–5.80) | 0.861 | |
| FM, median (IQR), scores‡ | 74.00 (39.30–96.30) | 85.00 (39.00–97.80) | 0.579 | |
| Antihypertensives, n (%) (yes/no)* |
14 (46.67)/16 (53.33) | 7 (43.75)/9 (56.25) | 0.850 | |
| Lipid-lowering agents, n (%) (yes/no)* |
5 (16.67)/25 (83.33) | 6 (37.50)/10 (62.50) | 0.115 | |
| Hypoglycaemic agents, n (%) (yes/no)* |
9 (30.00)/21 (70.00) | 3 (18.75)/13 (81.25) | 0.408 | |
*χ² test. In order to avoid the information bias resulted from matching numbers, we adopted χ² test in HC group and IS group received acupuncture or non-acupoint acupuncture in sexual subgroups, respectively.
†Two-sample t-test.
‡Mann-Whitney U test.
FM, Fugl-Meyer; HA, hand-foot 12 needles acupuncture; HAMD, Hamilton Depression Scale; HC, healthy control; IS, ischaemic stroke; MMSE, Mini-mental State Examination; NA, non-acupoint; NIHSS, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale.