Acupuncture group-based community clinics in Portland, Oregon reach a broader socioeconomic spectrum when compared with a national sample of acupuncture clinics. Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the Helfgott Research Institute, Portland compared 478 acupuncture patients at community acupuncture clinics in Portland with a national sample and concluded that “local community acupuncture clinics reach individuals of a broad socioeconomic spectrum and may allow for increased frequency of treatment.”
Acupuncture in OregonPortland community group-based acupuncture patients sought acupuncture care for back pain (21%), depression (13%) and joint pain (17%). The study also concluded that the group-based acupuncture patients in Portland had “higher educational attainment, lower household income, and were more likely to receive 10 or more treatments in the past 12 months” than the national sample of acupuncture patients.
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Reference:
Maria T. Chao, Kimberly M. Tippens, and Erin Connelly. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. June 2012, 18(6): 561-566. doi:10.1089/acm.2011.0128. Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California. Helfgott Research Institute, National College of Natural Medicine, Portland, Oregon.
