Electroacupuncture alleviates symptoms and identifies a potential microbial biomarker in patients with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome

Table 3 The comparison in clinical parameters, and serum biomarkers between responder and non-responder in patients with irritable bowel syndrome with predominant constipation after electroacupuncture treatment course

Characteristic	IBS-C		P value
	Responder (n = 13)	Non-responder (n = 3)
Clinical score
IBS-SSS score	280.00 (205.00, 314.50)	200.00 (180.00, 270.00)	0.203
Delta 1	210.00 (170.00, 264.50)	130.00 (30.00, 220.00)	0.160
Delta 2	220.00 (137.50, 269.50)	-40.00 (-70.00, 0.00)	0.003
IBS-QoL	89.00 (77.00, 103.00)	51.00 (94.00, 110.00)	0.975
Delta 1	33.00 (10.00, 45.50)	14.00 (4.00, 28.00)	0.278
Delta 2	36.00 (23.00, 54.50)	0.00 (-1.00, 18.00)	0.014
Cognitive assessment
MoCA	26.00 (23.50, 27.50)	27.00 (26.00, 28.00)	0.332
Delta 1	-2.00 (-4.50, -1.00)	-2.00 (-3.00, -2.00)	0.728
Delta 2	-2.00 (-4.50, -1.00)	-3.00 (-3.00, -1.00)	0.945
MMSE	27.00 (26.00, 28.00)	27.00 (25.00, 28.00)	0.871
Delta 1	0.00 (-2.00, 1.00)	-1.00 (-4.00, -1.00)	0.210
Delta 2	0.00 (-2.00, 0.50)	-2.00 (-3.00, 0.00)	0.492
Emotional assessment
Anxiety	9.00 (7.50, 12.50)	6.00 (2.00, 13.00)	0.471
Delta 1	4.00 (2.50, 6.50)	-1.00 (-1.00, 3.00)	0.064
Delta 2	3.00 (0.50, 9.50)	-2.00 (-2.00, 3.00)	0.150
Depression	4.00 (3.00, 5.50)	4.00 (3.00, 7.00)	0.846
Delta 1	2.00 (-0.50, 4.00)	0.00 (-6.00, 1.00)	0.167
Delta 2	2.00 (0.50, 3.00)	0.00 (-7.00, 1.00)	0.096
Laboratory
Cortisol level (μg/dL)	10.70 (8.60, 14.45)	14.10 (10.90, 24.40)	0.228
Delta 1	-2.00 (-4.78, 1.94)	3.19 (-6.90, 4.82)	0.610
Delta 2	0.89 (-7.36, 1.89)	-3.40 (-4.30, 2.60)	0.946
MDA level (nmol/mL)	364.54 (323.68, 441.86)	354.19 (251.30, 453.51)	0.703
Delta 1	-207.08 (-350.18, -63.88)	-465.16 (-536.37, -165.54)	0.296
Delta 2	-83.22 (-230.66, 3.74)	-169.65 (-178.08, 54.15)	0.900
Serotonin level (μg/dL)	1.60 (0.62, 2.78)	0.858 (0.33, 16.36)	0.754
Delta 1	-0.25 (-2.42, 0.25)	0.19 (-2.53, 16.37)	0.481
Delta 2	0.29 (-0.84, 1.31)	-0.37 (-0.95, 15.37)	0.863

Data are presented as the median (IQR). Comparisons between the groups were conducted using Mann-Whitney U test. IBS-SSS: Irritable bowel syndrome symptom severity scale scores; IBS-QoL: Irritable bowel syndrome quality of life; MoCA: Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MMSE: Mini-Mental State Examination; HADs: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; MDA: Malondialdehyde; Delta 1 Δ (Pre-treatment) – (Post-treatment); Delta 2 Δ (Pre-treatment) – (Follow-up).