Costs
From a healthcare perspective, the combination of medical costs and direct non-medical costs were similar between the pharmacopuncture and control groups during the treatment period, whereas the cost was lower by $26 (95% CI, -123 to 64) in the pharmacopuncture group during the entire period. Regarding direct non-medical costs, the time cost was significantly lower in the pharmacopuncture group ($201; 95% CI, 186–217) than in the control group ($236; 95% CI, 210–263). Specifically, the time cost was significantly lower in the pharmacopuncture group because they spent less time being treated than the control group (Supplementary Table A5 (see Additional file 
Cost comparisons between pharmacopuncture and usual care
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