Effectiveness of six-step complex decongestive therapy for treating upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer surgery

Table 1 Demographic and clinical data of the two groups

	Control group (n = 50)	Experimental group (n = 50)	χ2	P
Age, yr	46.32 ± 10.08	49.50 ± 11.64	1.683	0.195
< 50	38	31
≥ 50	12	19
Academic level			2.319	0.314
Primary school	12	7
Middle school	27	34
Bachelor degree or above	11	9
Cancer staging			2.186	0.335
I	5	7
II	9	14
III	36	29
Type of operation			0.177	0.674
Mastectomy plus axillary lymph node dissection	48	46
Breast conserving plus sentinel lymph node biopsy	2	4
Chemotherapy	46	49	0.842	0.359
Radiotherapy	32	41	3.247	0.072
Duration of postoperative edema (mo)			6.398	0.094
< 3	1	4
3-6	7	3
6-12	8	3
> 12	34	40