Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of women at trial entry to allocated treatment group.
| Acupuncture intervention n = 28 |
Lifestyle only intervention n = 28 |
p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 33.14 (5.4) | 33.93 (5.0) | 0.572 |
| Fertility history | |||
| Gravida = 0 n (%) | 11 (39.3) | 7 (25) | 0.252 |
| Parity = 1 or >1 n (%) | 8 (28.6) | 7 (32.1) | 0.771 |
| Duration of infertility | |||
| Mean (SD) | 3.9 (3.4) | 5.8 (4.6) | 0.080∗ |
| Reasons for infertility | |||
| Female factor n (%) | 15 (53.6) | 11 (39.3) | |
| Unexplained | 10 (35.7) | 13 (26.4) | |
| Unknown, combined + male factor | 3 (10.7) | 4 (14.3) | |
| Biomedical fertility diagnosis | |||
| PCOS n (%) | 12 (42.9) | 9 (32.1) | 0.408 |
| Unknown n (%) | 10 (35.7) | 14 (50) | |
| Other n (%) | 6 (21.4) | 5 (17.9) | |
| BMI | |||
| Combined mean (SD) | 30.0 (9.8) | 30.3 (7.4) | 0.893 |
| Previous use of acupuncture n (%) | 13 (46.4) | 12 (42.9) | 0.788 |
| Demographic details | |||
| Employment n (%) | |||
| Working full time | 17 (60.7) | 16 (57.1) | 0.528 |
| Working part time | 8 (28.6) | 6 (21.4) | |
| Unemployed/home duties | 2 (7.1) | 6 (17.9) | |
| Education status n (%) | |||
| School incompletion | 0 | 2 (7.1) | |
| School/TAFE completion | 16 (57.1) | 13 (46.4) | 0.309 |
| Tertiary completion | 12 (42.9) | 13 (46.4) | |
| Racial origin n (%) | |||
| Caucasian | 16 (57.1) | 19 (67.9) | 0.408 |
| English speaking background (ESB) | 15 | 18 | 0.415 |
| NESB | 13 | 10 | 0.275 |
| Marital status n (%) | |||
| Married | 25 (89.3) | 22 (78.6) | |
| De facto | 3 (10.7) | 6 (21.4) |
∗ indicates possible significance, for example, p < 0.05.