ArticlePloS one2018
Impact of acupuncture treatment on the lumbar surgery rate for low back pain in Korea: A nationwide matched retrospective cohort study.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prognostic Factors and Treatment Effect Modifiers for Acupuncture Response in Patients with Neurogenic Claudication of Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of pain research · 2026Trial
- Acupuncture in persons with an increased stress level-Results from a randomized-controlled pilot trial.PloS one · 2020Trial
- Association between acupuncture exposure and mortality in people with disabilities diagnosed with ischemic heart disease: a nationwide retrospective cohort study in the Republic of Korea.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2026Article
- Health Outcomes Associated with Blood Lipid Levels and Korean Medicine Utilization in Elderly Population from the NHIS Database: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Korean medicine use is associated with reduced lumbar surgery and opioid prescriptions in lumbar disc herniation: a nationwide cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Herbal decoction and lumbar spine surgery in patients with lumbar disc herniation: a real-world study using linked electronic health records and claims data.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Effect of Korean medicine treatment on surgery and opioid prescription among patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: a nationwide retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Factors associated with acupuncture treatment use among middle-aged and older adults with low back pain in China.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- Analysis of factors associated with the use of Korean medicine after spinal surgery using a nationwide database in Korea.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Clinical Studies of Bee Venom Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain in the Korean Literature.Toxins · 2022Review
- A brief introduction to research based on real-world evidence: Considering the Korean National Health Insurance Service database.Integrative medicine research · 2022Article
- Pain, disability, and MRI changes in lumbar disc herniation patients treated with integrative medicine: Ten-year results of an observational study.Integrative medicine research · 2022Article
- The relationship between spinal pain and temporomandibular joint disorders in Korea: a nationwide propensity score-matched study.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2019Article
- Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health Commentary to CMS; RE: National Coverage Analysis (NCA) Tracking Sheet for Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain (CAG-00452N).Global advances in health and medicine · 2019Article
- Acupuncture Treatment Reverses Retinal Gene Expression Induced by Optic Nerve Injury via RNA Sequencing Analysis.Frontiers in integrative neuroscience · 2019Article
- Is acupuncture an effective postherpetic neuralgia treatment? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of pain research · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionLow back pain (LBP) is a globally prevalent disorder with high social significance. Invasive surgical procedures are increasingly being used to treat LBP despite a lack of solid evidence supporting their long-term benefits. This nationwide retrospective cohort study investigated the association between acupuncture treatment and lumbar surgery rate in patients with LBP.
methodsUsing the National Health Insurance Service Sample Cohort Database for 2002-2013, we identified newly diagnosed LBP patients in Korea between 2004 and 2010 and divided them into an acupuncture group and control group according to whether or not they received acupuncture. Propensity scores based on age, sex, income, and Charlson Comorbidity Index were matched between the two study groups. The lumbar surgery rate in the two years following the first visit (control group) or the first acupuncture session (acupuncture group) was calculated. In addition to the overall analysis, stratified analyses were also conducted in different age, sex, and income strata. Sensitivity analyses were further performed using varying definitions of acupuncture treatment.
resultsAfter matching, 130,089 subjects were included in each study group. The lumbar surgery rate was significantly lower in the acupuncture group than in the control group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.633, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.576-0.696). Decrease in HR was consistently observed in the acupuncture group for all age strata, except for patients in their 20s (HR 1.031, 95% CI 0.804-1.323). HR for lumbar surgery tended to be further reduced in the older age groups upon acupuncture treatment, with no apparent sex-related differences. Lowered HR in the acupuncture group was continuously observed across all income groups; the higher income group showed a tendency of greater decrease. Sensitivity analyses showed that the number of acupuncture sessions had no major impact on the likelihood of lumbar surgery, but also that more intensive acupuncture treatment was associated with further reduction in lumbar surgery rates.
conclusionThe present results found that administration of acupuncture treatment is associated with lower lumbar surgery rates for LBP patients in Korea. Prospective studies are warranted in the future to further investigate the effect of acupuncture treatment on lumbar surgery incidence.
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