Trial reportPloS one2019
Cost-effectiveness of acupuncture versus standard care for pelvic and low back pain in pregnancy: A randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01848587 (Trial of Acupuncture Pelvic and Low Back Pain in Pregnancy), which is not on this map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Trial of Acupuncture Pelvic and Low Back Pain in Pregnancy (TAPPP)
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Research trends of acupuncture therapy for painful peripheral nervous system diseases from 2004 to 2023: a bibliometric and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of Efficacy between Acupuncture Therapies in Improving Sacroiliac Joint Malposition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.BioMed research international · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Outcomes and outcomes measurements used in intervention studies of pelvic girdle pain and lumbopelvic pain: a systematic review.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2019Pooled it
- Managing office worker presenteeism by providing financial aid for acupuncture therapy: a pragmatic multicenter randomized comparative study.Industrial health · 2023Trial
- Cost-effectiveness analysis of acupuncture compared with usual care for acute non-specific low back pain: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2022Trial
- A cost-utility analysis of pharmacopuncture versus physiotherapy for chronic low back pain: A multicenter, pragmatic randomized controlled trial.Integrative medicine research · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture enhances the mitophagy of granulosa cells in premature ovarian insufficiency model mice by inactivating the hippo-yes-associated protein/transcriptional co-activator with postsynaptic density protein, drosophila disc large tumor suppressor, and zonula occludens-1 protein binding motif pathway.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Article
- Recent advances in acupuncture for pain relief.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for pregnancy-related low back pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Analgesic Efficacy of Acupuncture on Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Acupuncture for pregnancy-related pain in the lower back and posterior pelvic girdle.Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) · 2023Article
- Pain and Opioid Use: Evidence for Integrating Acupuncture Into Treatment Planning.Global advances in health and medicine · 2021Article
- Evaluating the Quality of Reports About Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain.Journal of pain research · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the cost-effectiveness of acupuncture for pelvic girdle and low back pain (PGLBP) during pregnancy.
designPragmatic-open-label randomised controlled trial.
settingFive maternity hospitals. POPULATION: Pregnant women with PGLBP.
method1:1 randomization to standard care or standard care plus acupuncture (5 sessions by an acupuncturist midwife).
main outcome measureEfficacy: proportion of days with self-assessed pain by numerical rating scale (NRS) ≤ 4/10. Cost effectiveness (societal viewpoint, time horizon: pregnancy): incremental cost per days with NRS ≤ 4/10. Indirect non-healthcare costs included daily compensations for sick leave and productivity loss caused by absenteeism or presenteeism.
results96 women were allocated to acupuncture and 103 to standard care (total 199). The proportion of days with NRS ≤ 4/10 was greater in the acupuncture group than in the standard care group (61% vs 48%, p = 0.007). The mean Oswestry disability score was lower in the acupuncture group than with standard care alone (33 versus 38, Δ = 5, 95% CI: 0.8 to 9, p = 0.02). Average total costs were higher in the control group (€2947) than in the acupuncture group (€2635, Δ = -€312, 95% CI: -966 to +325), resulting from the higher indirect costs of absenteeism and presenteeism. Acupuncture was a dominant strategy when both healthcare and non-healthcare costs were included. Costs for the health system (employer and out-of-pocket costs excluded) were slightly higher for acupuncture (€1512 versus €1452, Δ = €60, 95% CI: -272 to +470).
conclusionAcupuncture was a dominant strategy when accounting for employer costs. A 100% probability of cost-effectiveness was obtained for a willingness to pay of €100 per days with pain NRS ≤ 4.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.