Baseline demographics and menstrual cycle characteristics
across the two groups were similar and the participants had a
mean age of 21 years in both groups (Table 1). Mean overall pain
scores were 23.0 (SD 11.9, range 3–49) in the NSAID group and 24.6
(SD 10.6, range 10–39) in the acupuncture group prior to the
therapeutic intervention. Significantly lower scores were found in
both groups during the study month (Fig. 1). Even though the
decrease in main pain scores was higher in the acupuncture group
(by 69.5% vs. 52.2%), the decrease tended to be more significant in
the NSAID group (p = 0.000) compared to the acupuncture group
(p = 0.003). We think that this may be because of the larger range
and greater standard deviation in the NSAID group (Table 2).