Table 1.

Demographic Properties and Laboratory Characteristics of Groups (Mean ± SD)

	Du-14 group (n = 18)	Li-11 group (n = 16)	St-36 group (n = 18)	Sp-6 group (n = 18)	Sham group (n = 17)
Sex (female/male)	8/10	5/11	7/11	6/12	6/11
Age (years)	21.56 ± 2.25	22.50 ± 2.66	22.39 ± 1.91	22.89 ± 3.20	21.29 ± 1.83
TNF-α (pg/mL) (baseline)	37.63 ± 10.58	37.36 ± 10.24	33.83 ± 7.36	35.73 ± 6.75	32.05 ± 5.66
TNF-α (pg/mL) (after the acupuncture)	35.89 ± 11.61	34.80 ± 6.98	35.89 ± 9.22	33.30 ± 5.45	33.78 ± 5.98
Δ TNF-α	-1.74 ± 9.88	-2.57 ± 8.16	2.06 ± 6.8	-2.43 ± 6.31	1.73 ± 6.91
hsCRP (mg/L) (baseline)	0.90 ± 0.77	1.07 ± 1.35	0.77 ± 0.54	0.75 ± 0.54	0.94 ± 0.68
hsCRP (mg/L) (after the acupuncture)	1.09 ± 1.17	0.84 ± 0.43	0.74 ± 0.49	0.80 ± 0.53	0.62 ± 0.44*
Δ hsCRP	0.19 ± 1.37	-0.23 ± 1.15	-0.03 ± 0.25	0.05 ± 0.34	-0.32 ± 0.44

^*p < 0.01: Compared with baseline values.

SD, standard deviation; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor–α; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein; Δ, post-treatment baseline change score.