OBJECTIVEThe demographic characteristics of acupuncture outpatient in China is investigated so as to provide clinical evidence for the establishment of acupuncture indication.

METHODSClinical epidemiological table was adopted to do cluster multistage random sampling in 36 hospitals of 31 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in 2008. The composition ratios of all indices were analyzed with SPSS 13.0 software. And trend analysis was carried out on the patient's demographic characteristics and the age distribution of clinical indications.

RESULTSIn the year 2008, 31 858 cases of out patients from 36 hospitals of 6 administrative regions were collected. There were totally 14 411 male patients (45.2%) and 17 447 (54.8%) female. The gender ratio of male and female was 82: 100. The average age of the patients was (50.6 +/- 17.7) years old. The number of patients over 45 years old was more obvious than groups of other ages (P<0.05). Age differences can be found in those 6 regions (P<0.05). Clinical symptoms varied according to different ages of the patients. Different characteristics of age distribution of acupuncture indications were held to exist (P=0.000).

CONCLUSIONAt the present, differences of gender, age and region can be found in out patients of acupuncture clinic. And the result shows that the number of female patients is more than male, with a large proportion of patients over 45 years old. Differences of age distribution characteristics of acupuncture indications still exist, which is considered to have the relation with the dominate indications of acupuncture and aging of the population.