Effectiveness of six-step complex decongestive therapy for treating upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer surgery

Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of the two groups

	Control group (n = 50)	Experimental group (n = 50)	χ2	P
Age, yr	46.32 ± 10.08	49.50 ± 11.64	1.683	0.195
< 50	38	31
≥ 50	12	19
Academic level			2.319	0.314
Primary school	12	7
Middle school	27	34
Bachelor degree or above	11	9
Cancer staging			2.186	0.335
I	5	7
II	9	14
III	36	29
Type of operation			0.177	0.674
Mastectomy plus axillary lymph node dissection	48	46
Breast conserving plus sentinel lymph node biopsy	2	4
Chemotherapy	46	49	0.842	0.359
Radiotherapy	32	41	3.247	0.072
Duration of postoperative edema (mo)			6.398	0.094
< 3	1	4
3-6	7	3
6-12	8	3
> 12	34	40

Table 2 Comparison of bioelectrical impedance and extracellular moisture ratio between the two groups

Group	50-Hz electrical bioimpedance (Ω)			Extracellular moisture ratio (%)
	Pre-treatment	Post-treatment	d1	Pre-treatment	Post-treatment	d2
Control group (n = 50)	128.06 ± 27.83	213.34 ± 33.14	85.28 ± 26.10	0.393 ± 0.012	0.384 ± 0.006	-0.008 ± 0.006
Experimental group (n = 50)	128.54 ± 26.17	264.54 ± 40.43	136.00 ± 32.13	0.394 ± 0.011	0.371 ± 0.007	-0.023 ± 0.011
U	1217	401	227.5	1134.5	130	216
P	0.82	< 0.01	< 0.01	0.42	< 0.01	< 0.01

Table 3 Comparison of the number of cases with subjective relief of affected limb symptoms between the two groups

Time	Group		Tightness	Pain	Numbness	Stiffness	Limited swelling	Shoulder movement
Before treatment (0 time)	Control group (n = 50)	yes	49	13	20	15	50	8
		no	1	37	30	35	0	42
	Experimental group (n = 50)	yes	50	11	23	17	50	10
		no	0	39	27	33	0	40
	χ2		——	0.219	0.367	0.184	——	0.271
	P		> 0.999b	0.640a	0.545a	0.668a	1.000c	0.603a
Post-treatment (20 times)	Control group (n = 50)	yes	10	3	5	4	18	3
		no	40	47	45	46	32	47
	Experimental group (n = 50)	yes	2	1	1	3	4	1
		no	48	49	49	47	46	49
	χ2		6.061	——	——	——	11.422	——
	P		0.014a	0.617b	0.204b	> 0.999b	0.001a	0.617b

^aThe difference between the two groups was analyzed by χ² test;

^bThe difference between the two groups was analyzed by Fisher exact probability method;

^cSince the limited swelling was a constant, no statistics were calculated.