Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17980044›Full record

Trial reportBMC complementary and alternative medicine2007

Acupuncture in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind controlled pilot study.

Lai-Shan Tam, Ping-Chung Leung, Tena K Li, Lang Zhang, Edmund K Li

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readControlled Clinical TrialRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT00404443 (Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis), which is not on this map. Cited by 29 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
8.9field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT00404443 phase2completednot on this map

Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: a Double-Blind Controlled Pilot Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorChinese University of Hong KongRan2004 to 2006Enrolled36ConditionsRheumatoid ArthritisArmsAcupuncture
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.

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  3. Acupuncture for neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Lai-Shan TamThe Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, The Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. tamls_813@yahoo.com
Ping-Chung Leung
Tena K Li
Lang Zhang
Edmund K Li
Chinese University of Hong Kong · CNPrince of Wales Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn planning a randomized controlled trial of acupuncture, we conducted a pilot study using validated outcome measures to assess the feasibility of the protocol, and to obtain preliminary data on efficacy and tolerability of 3 different forms of acupuncture treatment as an adjunct for the treatment of chronic pain in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

methodsThe study employs a randomized, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA), traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) and sham acupuncture (Sham) in patients with RA. All patients received 20 sessions over a period of 10 weeks. Six acupuncture points were chosen. Primary outcome is the changes in the pain score. Secondary outcomes included the changes in the ACR core disease measures, DAS 28 score and the number of patients who achieved ACR 20 at week 10.

resultsFrom 80 eligible patients, 36 patients with mean age of 58 +/- 10 years and disease duration of 9.3 +/- 6.4 years were recruited. Twelve patients were randomized to each group. Twelve, 10 and 7 patients from the EA, TCA and Sham group respectively completed the study at 20 weeks (p < 0.03); all except one of the premature dropouts were due to lack of efficacy. At week 10, the pain score remained unchanged in all 3 groups. The number of tender joints was significantly reduced for the EA and TCA groups. Physician's global score was significantly reduced for the EA group and patient's global score was significantly reduced for the TCA group. All the outcomes except patient's global score remained unchanged in the Sham group.

conclusionThis pilot study has allowed a number of recommendations to be made to facilitate the design of a large-scale trial, which in turn will help to clarify the existing evidence base on acupuncture for RA.

trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT00404443.

Indexed as

Severity of Illness IndexAcupuncture TherapyAdultArthritis, RheumatoidDouble-Blind MethodElectroacupunctureFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementPilot ProjectsQuality of LifeTreatment Outcome

Identifiers

PMID17980044
PMCPMC2174514
OpenAlexW2031402603

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.