Ziwu-Liuzhu-guided combined external therapy promotes wound healing in postoperative perianal fistulizing Crohn’s disease

Table 4 Propensity score matching and sensitivity analysis results, mean ± SD/median interquartile range

Comparison	Indicator	Ziwu-Liuzhu time-specific external treatment group	Comparator group	Statistic	P value
Ziwu-Liuzhu time-specific external treatment vs sitz bath (PSM, n = 58 pairs)	Healing time (day)	19 (16-23)	29 (25-34)	Z = -5.21	< 0.001
	CRP after treatment (mg/L)	9.1 ± 4.3	17.8 ± 6.1	t = -8.64	< 0.001
	TNF-α after treatment (pg/mL)	17.1 ± 5.4	27.4 ± 7.6	t = -7.93	< 0.001
	IL-6 after treatment (pg/mL)	11.4 ± 4.7	20.6 ± 6.8	t = -8.11	< 0.001
	Total effective rate (%)	53/58 (91.4)	37/58 (63.8)	χ2 = 12.37	< 0.001
	Logistic regression OR (95%CI)	4.12 (1.89-8.97)	Reference		< 0.001
Ziwu-Liuzhu time-specific external treatment vs sitz bath plus acupoint application group (PSM, n = 61 pairs)	Healing time (day)	18 (15-22)	24 (20-28)	Z = -4.28	< 0.001
	VAS pain score	2.2 ± 0.9	3.3 ± 1.1	t = -5.43	< 0.001
	CRP after treatment (mg/L)	8.7 ± 4.0	13.4 ± 5.2	t = -5.58	< 0.001
	TNF-α after treatment (pg/mL)	16.5 ± 5.3	22.4 ± 6.4	t = -5.01	< 0.001
	IL-6 after treatment (pg/mL)	10.9 ± 4.5	16.2 ± 5.7	t = -5.32	< 0.001
	Total effective rate (%)	57/61 (93.4)	49/61 (80.3)	χ2 = 5.29	0.021
	Logistic regression OR (95%CI)	3.26 (1.28-8.29)	Reference		0.013

PSM: Propensity score matching; CRP: C-reactive protein; TNF: Tumor necrosis factor; IL: Interleukin; OR: Odds ratio; CI: Confidence interval; VAS: Visual Analogue Scale.