Madsen, Gřtzsche, and Hróbjartsson reported a systematic review of randomised clinical trials of acupuncture treatment for pain, with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups.
They identified trials as shown in the following table:
| Trial | Clinical problem | Trial size—No randomised (No; % dropouts) | Blinding | Concealment of allocation | Pain scale | Treatment duration (No of sessions)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melchart | Tension headache | 270 (30; 11%) | Patients | Centralised telephone randomisation | Rating scale (1-10) | 8 weeks (12); evaluation at 12 weeks |
| Linde | Migraine | 302 (20; 7%) | Patients | Centralised telephone randomisation | Rating scale (0-10) | 8 weeks (12); evaluation at 12 weeks |
| Scharf | Osteoarthritis | 1039 (57; 5%) | Patients | Central randomisation | WOMAC (0-10) | 6 weeks (10); evaluation at 13 weeks |
| Witt | Osteoarthritis | 300 (14; 5%;) | Patients | Centralised telephone randomisation | WOMAC (0-10) | 8 weeks (12) |
| Foster | Osteoarthritis | 352 (19; 5%) | Patients | Central telephone randomisation | WOMAC (0-10) | 3 weeks (6); evaluation at 6 weeks |
| Brinkhaus | Low back pain | 301 (17; 6%) | Patients | Centralised telephone randomisation | VAS (0-100 mm) | 8 weeks (12) |
| Molsberger | Low back pain | 186 (12; 6%) | Patients | Central telephone randomisation | VAS (0-100 mm) | 4 weeks (12) |
| Leibing | Low back pain | 150 (36; 24%) | Patients | Unclear | VAS change (0-10 cm) | 12 weeks (20) |
| Wang | Postoperative pain | 101 (unclear) | Patients | Unclear | VAS (0-100 mm) | 1 day (1) |
| Lin | Postoperative pain | 100 (unclear) | Patients | Unclear | VAS (0-100 mm) | 1 day (1) |
| Fanti | Colonoscopy | 30 (unclear) | Unclear | Unclear | Rating scale | (1-5) 1 day (1) |
| Sprott | Fibromyalgia | 30 (unclear) | Unclear | Unclear | VAS (0-10) | 3 weeks (6) |
| Kotani | Scar pain | 70 (unclear) | Unclear | Sequentially sealed opaque envelopes | VAS (0-10 cm) | 4 weeks (20) |
| VAS=visual analogue scale; WOMAC=Western Ontario and McMaster Universities pain subscale.
* Timing of evaluation is identical to treatment duration if not otherwise specified. | ||||||
Question 1: Is there any evidence of clinical heterogeneity between these trials?
Check suggested answer 1.
Question 2: What kind of variable are the outcomes in these trials?
Check suggested answer 2.
Question 3: How could the results of these trials be combined in a meta-analysis?
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Last updated: 16 February, 2009.