Utilisation of acupuncture at an academic medical centre.
OBJECTIVE
To provide information about the clinical use of acupuncture at an academic medical centre in the USA.


METHODS
A retrospective review of 904 patients (receiving 6070 treatments) who were referred for acupuncture treatment at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota, USA) between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2008. Data gathered included age, sex, primary diagnosis, number of treatments per diagnosis and health insurance carrier.


RESULTS
The mean (SD) age of the patients was 53.4 (16.2) years; 73.8% were female and 26.2% were male. The three most common diagnostic categories for which acupuncture was used were spinal pain (33.4%), pain (other) (25.1%) and joint pain (12.3%). About 42% of visits were not covered by health insurance carriers and hence patients had to pay themselves. For the remaining 58% of visits, health insurance carriers picked up all or part of the cost of the acupuncture treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that pain is the most common reason for use of acupuncture in an academic medical centre and that women use acupuncture more than men. This is one of the few reports of clinical use of acupuncture at academic medical centres in the USA.
Vincent
Ann
A
Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. vincent.ann@mayo.edu
Kruk
Kelly M
KM
Cha
Stephen S
SS
Bauer
Brent A
BA
Martin
David P
DP
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D059408:Pain Management; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution