ArticlePain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2019
What if Acupuncture Were Covered by Insurance for Pain Management? A Cross-Sectional Study of Cancer Patients at One Academic Center and 11 Community Hospitals.
Article in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical Evidence for Association of Acupuncture and Acupressure With Improved Cancer Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA oncology · 2020Pooled it
- Does expectancy affect insomnia treatment response in cancer survivors receiving acupuncture and cognitive behavioral therapy?Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2023Trial
- Factors influencing acupuncture regimen completion by breast cancer patients: real-world data from an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Distribution of opioid analgesics by community racial/ethnic and socioeconomic profiles, 2011-2021.Pain · 2025Article
- Traditional and Complementary Medicine Use among Cancer Patients in Asian Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cancers · 2024Review
- SIO-ASCO guideline on integrative medicine for cancer pain management: implications for racial and ethnic pain disparities.JNCI cancer spectrum · 2023Article
- Dose-effect relationship of different acupuncture courses on chronic insomnia disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Use of complementary and integrative health in cancer pain management among patients undergoing cancer treatments: a qualitative descriptive study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022Article
- Pharmacological and Nonpharmacological Management of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy: A Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of palliative medicine · 2022Article
- Approaches to opioid prescribing in cancer survivors: Lessons learned from the general literature.Cancer · 2022Article
- Predictors of Chronic Opioid Use: A Population-Level Analysis of North Carolina Cancer Survivors Using Multi-Payer Claims.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2021Article
- Medicare Coverage of Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain: Does It Move the Needle on the Opioid Crisis?Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Article
- Bibliometric Analysis of Research on the Comorbidity of Cancer and 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
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveIn response to the national opioid crisis, governmental and medical organizations have called for broader insurance coverage of acupuncture to improve access to nonpharmacologic pain therapies, especially in cancer populations, where undertreatment of pain is prevalent. We evaluated whether cancer patients would be willing to use insurance-covered acupuncture for pain. DESIGN AND
settingWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of cancer patients with pain at one academic center and 11 community hospitals.
methodsWe used logistic regression models to examine factors associated with willingness to use insurance-covered acupuncture for pain.
resultsAmong 634 cancer patients, 304 (47.9%) reported willingness to use insurance-covered acupuncture for pain. In univariate analyses, patients were more likely to report willingness if they had severe pain (odds ratio [OR] = 1.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03-2.45) but were less likely if they were nonwhite (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.39-0.90) or had only received high school education or less (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.32-0.65). After adjusting for attitudes and beliefs in multivariable analyses, willingness was no longer significantly associated with education (adjusted OR [aOR] = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.50-1.21) and was more negatively associated with nonwhite race (aOR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29-0.84).
conclusionsApproximately one in two cancer patients was willing to use insurance-covered acupuncture for pain. Willingness was influenced by patients' attitudes and beliefs, which are potentially modifiable through counseling and education. Further research on racial disparities is needed to close the gap in utilization as acupuncture is integrated into insurance plans in response to the opioid crisis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.