Table 5.

Group Means and SDs for Cytokine Concentrations from in Vitro Mitogen-Stimulated Cell Cultures from Swedish Massage Therapy and Light Touch Subjects

	Massage		Touch			t-test
	N	Mean ± SD	N	Mean ± SD	Effect size	t	df	p
IFN-γ
Baseline	19	31.87 ± 51.00	15	43.28 ± 46.56
60 min post-treatment		44.36 ± 87.72		75.29 ± 91.47
Change		12.48 ± 54.74		32.00 ± 49.38	−0.48	−1.41	32	0.169
IL-1ß
Baseline	19	1.58 ± 2.13	15	1.58 ± 2.57
60 min post-treatment		1.74 ± 1.82		2.46 ± 3.88
Change		0.16 ± 1.39		0.88 ± 2.60	−0.53	−1.56	32	0.129
IL-2
Baseline	17	0.39 ± 0.58	14	0.25 ± 0.20
60 min post-treatment		0.40 ± 0.73		0.34 ± 0.42
Change		0.01 ± 0.31		0.09 ± 0.29	−0.30	−0.82	29	0.420
IL-4
Baseline	18	0.36 ± 0.33	14	0.76 ± 1.79
60 min post-treatment		0.33 ± 0.32		0.92 ± 1.86
Change		−0.03 ± 0.14		0.17 ± 0.31	−0.64	−1.87	30	0.071
IL-5
Baseline	19	0.85 ± 1.49	13	0.87 ± 0.94
60 min post-treatment		0.73 ± 1.19		1.30 ± 1.83
Change		−0.12 ± 0.65		0.43 ± 1.09	−0.55	−1.76	28	0.089
IL-6
Baseline	11	22.88 ± 16.50	10	17.37 ± 15.31
60 min post-treatment		23.51 ± 22.32		20.31 ± 14.98
Change		0.63 ± 19.14		2.94 ± 14.20	−0.22	−0.50	19	0.624
IL-10
Baseline	18	34.16 ± 79.00	14	10.21 ± 14.04
60 min post-treatment		26.07 ± 40.85		14.66 ± 21.06
Change		−8.09 ± 50.35		4.46 ± 9.34	−0.76	−2.26	30	0.031
IL-13
Baseline	18	8.06 ± 18.26	14	2.79 ± 4.50
60 min post-treatment		5.40 ± 10.91		4.30 ± 6.32
Change		−2.67 ± 7.79		1.51 ± 3.58	−0.63	−1.99	25	0.058
TNF-α
Baseline	21	6.96 ± 9.07	16	7.03 ± 11.32
60 min post-treatment		9.81 ± 17.72		8.23 ± 12.85
Change		2.86 ± 15.26		1.20 ± 5.97	+0.25	−0.75	35	0.456

Data are adjusted by number of lymphocytes per mL of blood (pg/10⁴cells). t-tests and treatment effect sizes calculated from log-transformed data.

SD, standard deviation; IFN-γ, interferon-γ; IL, interleukin; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor–α.