Incidence of Cellulitis Following Acupuncture Treatments in Taiwan

Shun-Ku Lin, Jui-Ming Liu, Pin-Hsuan Wang, Sheng-Ping Hung, Ren-Jun Hsu, Heng-Chang Chuang and Po-Hung Lin
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Shun-Ku Lin: Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Renai Branch, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Jui-Ming Liu: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan 330, Taiwan
Pin-Hsuan Wang: Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Renai Branch, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Sheng-Ping Hung: Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Renai Branch, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Ren-Jun Hsu: Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan
Heng-Chang Chuang: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan 330, Taiwan
Po-Hung Lin: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 20, 1-9

Abstract: Background : Cellulitis is a complication of acupuncture, but the risk factors and annualized incidence remain unclear. Objective: This study analyzed the incidence and risk factors of cellulitis related to acupuncture in a cohort of one million participants derived from Taiwan’s Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. Methods : We tracked this cohort between 1997 and 2012 and recorded all outpatient medical information including diagnosis and treatment. Patients were categorized according to age, gender, comorbidities, residential area, and number of acupuncture treatments. We compared the incidence and risk of cellulitis between different demographics and comorbidities by logistic regression analysis and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results : We included 407,802 patients and 6,207,378 acupuncture treatments. The incidence of cellulitis after acupuncture was 64.4 per 100,000 courses of acupuncture treatment. The most common sites of cellulitis after acupuncture were the legs, feet, and face. Comorbidity was associated with post-acupuncture cellulitis; a multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that chronic kidney disease (aOR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.55–1.88), rheumatoid arthritis (aOR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.21–3.60), liver cirrhosis (aOR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.15–1.32), diabetes mellitus (aOR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.57–1.82), stroke (aOR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.31–1.58), varicose veins (aOR, 2.38; 95% CI, 2.17–2.84), or heart failure (aOR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.65–1.98) significantly increased cellulitis. Repeated exposure to acupuncture treatment was associated with an increased risk of cellulitis. Conclusions : A variety of chronic diseases may increase the risk of cellulitis after acupuncture. Physicians asked about past medical history before acupuncture might help to reduce cellulitis.

Keywords: acupuncture; cellulitis; risk factors; varicose veins; liver cirrhosis; heart failure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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