Table 3.
Use of drugs, non-pharmacological treatments, and complementary tests during the study by treatment group
| Resource | Non-PGB (N = 157)§ |
PGB monotherapy (N = 577)§ |
PGB add-on (N = 575)§ |
p between groups | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Final | Baseline | Final | Baseline | Final | Baseline | Final$ | |
| Drug treatment | ||||||||
| Mean number (SD) | 2.4 (1.3) | 2.2 (1.2) | 2.0 (1.1) | 1.0 (0.0)* | 2.6 (1.4) | 2.7 (1.0) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Non-pharmacological treatments; N (%) | ||||||||
| Physiotherapy | 45 (30.8) | 23 (15.8)* | 168 (34.1) | 73 (14.8)* | 194 (38.2) | 116 (22.8)* | 0.180 | 0.011 |
| TENS | 16 (11.4) | 12 (8.6) | 45 (9.6) | 24 (5.1)* | 52 (10.7) | 32 (6.6)┼ | 0.766 | 0.375 |
| Infiltrations | 21 (14.9) | 11 (7.8)╪ | 51 (10.8) | 20 (4.2)* | 72 (14.8) | 21 (4.3)* | 0.154 | 0.195 |
| Electrotherapy | 18 (12.9) | 10 (7.1)╪ | 30 (6.5) | 12 (2.6)* | 48 (10.0) | 17 (3.6)* | 0.033 | 0.190 |
| Blockade | 3 (2.2) | 1 (0.7) | 8 (1.7) | 4 (0.9)╪ | 5 (1.1) | 2 (0.4) | 0.552 | 0.858 |
| Iontophoresis | 4 (2.9) | 0 (0.0)╪ | 1 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | 7 (1.5) | 1 (0.2)╪ | 0.019 | 0.530 |
| Spinal stimulator | 1 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (0.4) | 1 (0.2) | 4 (0.8) | 2 (0.4) | 0.727 | 0.700 |
| Pumps | 1 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) | 0.214 | 1.000 |
| Hydrotherapy | 3 (1.8) | 0 (0.0) | 10 (1.7) | 9 (1.5) | 15 (2.5) | 7 (1.2) | 0.552 | 0.199 |
| Short wave | 3 (1.8) | 1 (0.6) | 7 (1.2) | 1 (0.2)╪ | 22 (3.7) | 12 (2.0)╪ | 0.013 | 0.053 |
| Magnetotherapy | 1 (0.6) | 3 (1.8) | 3 (0.5) | 2 (0.3) | 6 (1.0) | 2 (0.3) | 0.568 | 0.034 |
| Acupuncture | 1 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (0.7) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (0.5) | 0 (0.0) | 0.938 | 1.000 |
| Complementary tests; N (%) | ||||||||
| CT | 25 (15.0) | 17 (10.2) | 155 (25.9) | 39 (6.5)* | 193 (32.8) | 69 (11.7)* | <0.001 | 0.013 |
| Resonance | 60 (35.9) | 32 (19.2)* | 193 (32.3) | 62 (10.4)* | 224 (38.0) | 88 (14.9)* | 0.114 | 0.012 |
| Electromyogram | 40 (24.0) | 22 (13.2)╪ | 164 (27.4) | 51 (8.5)* | 215 (36.5) | 68 (11.5)* | 0.001 | 0.109 |
| ECHO Doppler | 12 (7.2) | 8 (4.8) | 50 (8.4) | 14 (2.3)* | 59 (10.0) | 20 (3.4) | 0.424 | 0.194 |
| Thermogram | 6 (3.6) | 1 (0.6) | 4 (0.7) | 3 (0.5) | 13 (2.2) | 10 (1.7) | 0.016 | 0.151 |
| X-rays | 111 (66.5) | 51 (30.5)* | 363 (60.7) | 123 (20.6)* | 410 (69.6) | 145 (24.6)* | 0.005 | 0.058 |
| General analysis | 124 (74.3) | 73 (43.7)* | 427 (71.4) | 198 (33.1)* | 450 (76.4) | 233 (39.6)* | 0.146 | 0.032 |
| Gammagram | 12 (7.2) | 5 (3.0) | 41 (6.9) | 11 (1.8)* | 51 (8.7) | 24 (4.1)* | 0.491 | 0.129 |
SD: standard deviation; TENS: Transcutaneous electric neurostimulation; CT: Computerized tomography; * p < 0.0001; ┼ p < 0.001; ╪ p<0.05 vs. intragroup baseline value. §Total number of analyzed patients; some patients did not report all data. $Between groups changes comparison adjusted by baseline values and number of previous drugs.