Association between subjective health status and frequency of visits to acupuncture clinic: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

ObjectiveThere are few studies on the relationship between the frequency of acupuncture use and subjective health status. Therefore, we investigated this relationship using data of a previously performed cross-sectional survey of patients visiting Japanese acupuncture clinics.MethodsThis study used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2011 on patients visiting 180 acupuncture clinics nationwide that were run by members of the alumni association of Meiji University of Integrative Medicine Faculty of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, and did not provide treatment other than acupuncture. We calculated the frequency of visits to acupuncture clinics (ResultsThe questionnaire was distributed to 2,379 outpatients of acupuncture clinics, 1,409 of whom met the criteria and were included in the analysis. More frequent visits to acupuncture clinics were associated with lower scores on all three SF-36 summary scores. Compared to those who visited ConclusionsFrequent visits to acupuncture clinics were associated with poor subjective health status, especially physical health.