Table 1:
Participant characteristics at baseline
| Characteristic | Treatment group (electroacupuncture with splinting at night) n = 90 |
Control group (splinting at night only) n = 91 |
|---|---|---|
| Age, yr; mean ± SD | 51 ±10.2 | 51 ± 8.7 |
| Female, n (%) | 77 (86) | 81 (89) |
| Education level, n (%) | ||
| Primary or below | 7 (8) | 10 (11) |
| Secondary | 60 (67) | 56 (62) |
| Tertiary* or above | 23 (26) | 25 (27) |
| Employed, n (%) | 51 (57) | 59 (65) |
| Duration of symptoms, n (%) | ||
| > 1 yr | 69 (77) | 59 (65) |
| ≤ 1 yr | 21 (23) | 32 (35) |
| Duration of symptoms, mo; mean ± SD | 50 ± 52.7 | 51 ± 59.9 |
| Had treatment for the dominant hand, n (%) | 70 (78) | 73 (80) |
| Smoking status, n (%) | ||
| Currently smoke | 4 (4) | 3 (3) |
| Smoked previously | 5 (6) | 1 (1) |
| Passively smoke | 19 (21) | 17 (19) |
| Alcohol consumption, n (%)† | ||
| Do not drink | 21 (23) | 21 (23) |
| 1–9 drinks/wk | 69 (77) | 68 (75) |
| ≥ 10 drinks/wk | 0 (0) | 2 (2) |
| Splint compliance during the trial,%; mean ± SD‡ | 82 ± 24 | 85 ± 21 |
| BCTQ score, mean ± SD§ | ||
| SSS (range 1–5) | 2.32 ± 0.62 | 2.40 ± 0.69 |
| FSS (range 1–5) | 1.91 ± 0.68 | 1.99 ± 0.74 |
| DASH score (range 0–100), mean ± SD§ | 33.2 ± 16.8 | 34.5 ± 18.9 |
| NRS for pain intensity (range 0–10), mean ± SD§ | 4.38 ± 2.62 | 4.52 ± 2.78 |
| SWMT diameter, mm; mean ± SD¶ | ||
| Thumb | 3.72 ± 0.54 | 3.60 ± 0.53 |
| First finger | 3.61 ± 0.49 | 3.48 ± 0.52 |
| Middle finger | 3.61 ± 0.52 | 3.53 ± 0.51 |
| Little finger | 3.40 ± 0.48 | 3.43 ± 0.47 |
| Time to complete DMMPUT, s; mean ± SD** | ||
| Not blinded | 21.2 ± 9.3 | 22.3 ± 13.6 |
| Blinded | 45.4 ± 20.1 | 45.3 ± 18.4 |
| Tip pinch strength, lb; mean ± SD** | 8.00 ± 3.43 | 8.29 ± 3.62 |
Note: BCTQ = Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire, DASH = Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire, DMMPUT = Dellon-modified Moberg pick-up test, FSS = Functional Status Scale, NRS = numeric rating scale, SSS = Symptom Severity Scale, SWMT = Semmes–Weinstein Monofilament Test.
Tertiary education refers to all postsecondary education including, but not limited to, universities.
One standard drink corresponds to 150 mL of wine, 355 mL of beer or 44 mL of spirits.
Patient compliance for splinting was defined as (total no. of nights that splints were worn)/(total no. of nights across duration of trial) × 100. Patients from both groups had similar high compliance rates for wrist splinting, and there was no significant difference between groups. It is unlikely that such a slight variation in compliance for wrist splinting would have had an impact on outcomes. Therefore, we did not consider this variation in the analysis of covariance reported in Table 2.
A higher rating indicates greater severity.
Sensation in each finger was evaluated using 5 monofilaments of increasing diameter (i.e., 2.83 (best), 3.61, 4.31, 4.56 and 6.65). Mean diameter values for cutaneous sensation were reported and a decrement indicates improvement.
Mean values were calculated by averaging results from 3 attempts by each participant.