"Liuzijue" Qigong training enhances early pulmonary function recovery after esophageal cancer surgery

Table 1 Baseline characteristics and postoperative pneumonia incidence in esophageal cancer patients by intervention group, n (%)

Variable	Overall (n = 306)	Control group (n = 163)	Experimental group (n = 143)	P value
Age	58.55 ± 7.58	58.43 ± 7.60	58.69 ± 7.58	0.938
Sex				0.733
Male	185	100 (61.35)	85 (59.44)
Female	121	63 (38.65)	58 (40.56)
Body mass index	24.03 ± 1.42	23.97 ± 1.41	24.11 ± 1.43	0.907
Smoking				0.649
Yes	137	71 (43.56)	66 (46.15)
No	167	92 (56.44)	77 (53.85)
Surgical technique				0.997
Transthoracic esophagectomy	250	133 (81.60)	117 (81.82)
Ivor Lewis procedure	39	21 (12.88)	18 (12.59)
Three-port minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy	17	9 (5.52)	8 (5.59)
Surgical duration (minute)	194.62 ± 35.91	194.06 ± 36.13	195.27 ± 35.77	0.927
Intraoperative blood loss	100.38 ± 23.02	99.40 ± 23.13	101.50 ± 22.93	0.786
Postoperative pneumonia				0.005
Yes	57	40 (24.54)	17 (11.89)
No	249	123 (75.46)	126 (88.11)