Clinical effect of acupuncture at ghost points combined with fluoxetine hydrochloride on mild-to-moderate depression

Table 1 Comparison of baseline data

Group	Sex		Age (yr)	Degree of depression		Duration of disease (yr)
	Male	Female		Mild	Moderate
Coalition group (n = 80)	35	45	35.33 ± 9.06	46	34	2.41 ± 0.69
Single-agent group (n = 80)	37	43	36.16 ± 9.00	48	32	2.51 ± 0.72
χ2/t	0.101		-0.587	0.103		-0.826
P value	0.751		0.558	0.748		0.410

Table 2 Comparison of clinical efficacy between the coalition and single-agent groups, n (%)

Group	Clinical control	Remarkable	Effective	Invalid	Total effective rate (%)
Coalition group (n = 80)	28 (35.00)	32 (40.00)	18 (22.50)	2 (2.50)	78 (97.50)
Single-agent group (n = 80)	18 (22.50)	23 (28.75)	28 (35.00)	11 (13.75)	69 (86.25)
χ2					6.782
P value					0.009

Table 3 Comparison of neurotransmitter levels between the two groups at pre-treatment and 8 wk after treatment

Group	5-HT (ng/mL)		DA (pg/mL)		NE (pg/mL)
	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment
Coalition group (n = 80)	95.81 ± 8.35	130.56 ± 16.39a	122.59 ± 13.55	148.57 ± 16.34a	8.83 ± 2.41	14.66 ± 2.77a
Single-agent group (n = 80)	96.38 ± 9.05	119.25 ± 14.45a	120.36 ± 12.85	133.55 ± 13.44a	9.11 ± 1.96	12.14 ± 2.51a
t	-0.421	4.628	1.068	6.354	-0.808	6.017
P value	0.674	< 0.001	0.287	< 0.001	0.420	< 0.001

^aP < 0.00001

5-HT: 5-hydroxytryptamine; DA: Dopamine; NE: Norepinephrine.

Table 4 Comparison of oxidative stress indexes between the two groups at pre-treatment and 8 wk after treatment

Group	MDA (mmol/L)		SOD (U/mL)
	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment
Coalition group (n = 80)	12.21 ± 1.80	7.54 ± 1.02a	55.55 ± 5.62	68.16 ± 6.75a
Single-agent group (n = 80)	12.09 ± 1.77	8.80 ± 1.31a	55.65 ± 5.70	61.10 ± 5.95a
t	0.424	-6.762	-0.123	7.002
P value	0.672	< 0.001	0.902	< 0.001

^aP < 0.00001

MDA: Malondialdehyde; SOD: Superoxide dismutase.

Table 5 Comparison of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores between the two groups at pre-treatment and 8 wk after treatment

Group	Pre-treatment	After 8 wk of treatment
Coalition group (n = 80)	14.80 ± 3.23	5.38 ± 1.70a
Single-agent group (n = 80)	14.85 ± 3.16	7.53 ± 2.09a
t	-0.099	-7.130
P value	0.921	< 0.001

^aP < 0.00001.

Table 6 Comparison of Scale for Side Effects scores between the two groups at pre-treatment and 8 wk after treatment

Group	Pre-treatment	After treatment
		After 2 wk	After 4 wk	After 6 wk	After 8 wk
Coalition group (n = 80)	10.75 ± 2.51	8.89 ± 2.39b	8.16 ± 2.10b	6.75 ± 2.13b	5.11 ± 1.69b
Single-agent group (n = 80)	10.86 ± 2.32	9.85 ± 2.11a	9.18 ± 2.03b	7.75 ± 2.00b	6.82 ± 1.84b
t	-0.294	-2.702	-3.136	-3.062	-6.116
P value	0.769	0.008	0.002	0.003	< 0.001

^aP < 0.01.

^bP < 0.00001.