Factorial study of moxibustion in treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Table 1 An analysis of the general baseline conditions of the patients in each group

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	P value
n	40	40	40	40
Age (yr)	55	46.5	51.5	52	0.196
Gender					0.330
Male	42.5%	45%	42.5%	45%
Female	57.5%	55%	57.5%	55%
Disease duration (yr)	3	5	4	5	0.300
Disease severity scores	231.7 ± 68.0	221.5 ± 79.2	233.3 ± 73.9	241.5 ± 79.3	0.698

Group 1: 1 cone of moxibustion per treatment, 3 treatments/wk; Group 2: 1 cone of moxibustion per treatment, 6 treatments/wk; Group 3: 2 cones of moxibustion per treatment, 3 treatments/wk; Group 4: 2 cones of moxibustion per treatment, 6 treatments/wk.

Table 2 Comparisons of the symptom scores for patients in each group at different stages of treatment

Group	n		Birmingham	IBS-QOL	SDS	SAS	HAMD	HAMA
Group 1	40	Before	21.10 ± 8.62	75.75 ± 21.72	45.33 ± 11.04	42.83 ± 9.62	6.13 ± 5.43	5.90 ± 5.22
		1st course	11.60 ± 7.53a	60.20 ± 14.82a	36.20 ± 8.37a	36.65 ± 9.37a	3.75 ± 3.40a	4.05 ± 3.57a
		2nd course	5.55 ± 5.05abc	50.65 ± 10.86ab	32.43 ± 6.94ab	32.08 ± 6.95ab	1.75 ± 2.31ab	2.23 ± 2.90ab
Group 2	40	Before	23.45 ± 8.25	75.38 ± 21.02	43.45 ± 13.93	43.10 ± 12.86	7.25 ± 7.06	6.68 ± 4.74
		1st course	15.58 ± 9.15a	59.40 ± 18.02a	38.13 ± 10.54a	37.35 ± 10.03a	4.03 ± 3.28a	3.28 ± 3.03a
		2nd course	10.45 ± 6.61ab	47.90 ± 10.49ab	32.53 ± 7.26ab	32.25 ± 7.14ab	1.98 ± 2.38ab	1.93 ± 2.14ab
Group 3	40	Before	21.50 ± 8.82	78.53 ± 24.22	46.80 ± 13.53	46.15 ± 12.74	9.05 ± 6.54	7.53 ± 5.37
		1st course	13.03 ± 8.23a	58.28 ± 13.39a	38.40 ± 10.41a	37.95 ± 8.65a	4.60 ± 2.77a	3.98 ± 2.30a
		2nd course	5.65 ± 4.00abc	48.83 ± 9.38ab	32.50 ± 7.95ab	33.70 ± 7.00ab	2.10 ± 1.95ab	2.20 ± 1.60ab
Group 4	40	Before	23.65 ± 7.62	76.88 ± 19.90	46.00 ± 12.59	44.38 ± 12.02	7.50 ± 7.66	6.63 ± 4.78
		1st course	13.95 ± 7.69a	60.00 ± 16.09a	38.15 ± 9.76a	37.23 ± 10.50a	4.10 ± 4.89a	3.68 ± 2.67a
		2nd course	8.38 ± 6.17ab	48.48 ± 13.87ab	32.38 ± 9.15ab	33.45 ± 8.73ab	1.90 ± 3.04ab	2.20 ± 2.39ab

Group 1: One cone of moxibustion per treatment, three treatments/wk; Group 2: One cone of moxibustion per treatment, six treatments/wk; Group 3: Two cones of moxibustion per treatment, three treatments/wk; Group 4: Two cones of moxibustion per treatment, six treatments/wk; Before: Before treatment; 1^st course: After the first course of treatment; 2^nd course: After the second course of treatment; Birmingham: Birmingham irritable bowel syndrome symptom questionnaire; IBS-QOL: Irritable bowel syndrome Quality of Life Scale; SDS: Self-Rating Depression Scale; SAS: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; HAMD: Hamilton Depression Scale; HAMA: Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Compared with the first course after treatment;

^aP < 0.001 vs before treatment;

^bP < 0.001 vs the first course after treatment;

^cP < 0.001 vs group 2.

Table 3 Comparisons of the degrees of improvement in symptoms and relevant scales for patients in each group at different stages of treatment

				Frequency		P value
	Scale	n	Cone	Three treatments/wk	Six treatments/wk	Cone	Frequency	Conefrequency
	Birmingham	40	1	42.24 ± 36.12	35.20 ± 23.84	0.643	0.845	0.254
		40	2	30.30 ± 77.95	40.25 ± 29.15
	IBS-QOL	40	1	17.40 ± 19.04	20.25 ± 14.37	0.255	0.847	0.348
		40	2	22.63 ± 15.67	20.76 ± 13.83
	SDS	40	1	17.99 ± 17.02	10.49 ± 9.66	0.734	0.133	0.140
1st course		40	2	15.13 ± 19.32	15.06 ± 15.81
	SAS	40	1	13.72 ± 13.53	11.96 ± 9.97	0.279	0.535	0.849
		40	2	15.65 ± 13.50	14.72 ± 16.67
	HAMD	40	1	27.69 ± 48.61	39.54 ± 32.69	0.347	0.071	0.987
		40	2	33.78 ± 40.44	45.84 ± 42.93
	HAMA	40	1	12.04 ± 65.36	46.90 ± 28.61	0.458	0.011	0.028
		40	2	33.62 ± 44.65	36.19 ± 37.95
	Birmingham	40	1	73.74 ± 19.43	56.19 ± 21.62	0.393	0.002	0.078
		40	2	70.46 ± 27.24	65.56 ± 20.91
	IBS-QOL	40	1	29.98 ± 16.59	34.26 ± 13.63	0.247	0.208	0.562
		40	2	34.02 ± 15.29	35.60 ± 12.88
	SDS	40	1	26.12 ± 16.15	21.65 ± 14.35	0.149	0.373	0.373
2nd course		40	2	27.51 ± 17.52	27.51 ± 15.12
	SAS	40	1	23.68 ± 12.83	22.54 ± 12.14	0.871	0.604	0.996
		40	2	24.02 ± 15.77	22.90 ± 13.81
	HAMD	40	1	63.06 ± 36.74	68.88 ± 32.05	0.139	0.182	0.845
		40	2	69.63 ± 30.35	77.45 ± 29.05
	HAMA	40	1	49.62 ± 46.44	62.61 ± 38.66	0.502	0.238	0.450
		40	2	59.19 ± 49.29	62.04 ± 32.62

1^st course: After the first course of treatment; 2^nd course: After the second course of treatment; Birmingham: Birmingham irritable bowel syndrome symptom questionnaire; IBS-QOL: Irritable bowel syndrome Quality of Life Scale; SDS: Self-Rating Depression Scale; SAS: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; HAMD: Hamilton Depression Scale; HAMA: Hamilton Anxiety Scale.

Table 4 Correlation analysis of the degrees of improvements in relevant scales and the degrees of symptom improvement

Group	n	Degrees of symptom improvement(Birmingham)	Degrees of improvements inrelevant scales		r	P value
Aconite cake-separated moxibustion groups	160	66.49 ± 23.25	IBS-QOL	33.46 ± 14.68	0.080	0.317
			SDS	25.70 ± 15.87	0.165	0.037
			SAS	23.28 ± 13.59	0.161	0.042
			HAMD	69.75 ± 32.28	0.088	0.276
			HAMA	58.36 ± 42.19	0.331	0.077

Birmingham: Birmingham irritable bowel syndrome symptom questionnaire; IBS-QOL: Irritable bowel syndrome Quality of Life Scale; SDS: Self-Rating Depression Scale; SAS: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; HAMD: Hamilton Depression Scale; HAMA: Hamilton Anxiety Scale.