Trial reportThe American journal of gastroenterology2009
A treatment trial of acupuncture in IBS patients.
Trial report in The American journal of gastroenterology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of Acupuncture on Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of acupuncture on quality of life in patients with irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical evidence of acupuncture and moxibustion for irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Acupuncture for functional gastrointestinal disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2021Pooled it
- Potential Benefit With Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2021Pooled it
- Comparison between the Effects of Acupuncture Relative to Other Controls on Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis.Pain research & management · 2019Pooled it
- [Irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and functional constipation in adults: Treatment (Part 2 of 2)].Atencion primaria · 2017Guideline
- Effectiveness of acupuncture to treat irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis.World journal of gastroenterology · 2014Pooled it
- Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis.The American journal of gastroenterology · 2012Pooled it
- Acupuncture for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012Pooled it
- How large are the nonspecific effects of acupuncture? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC medicine · 2010Pooled it
- Efficacy of acupuncture in refractory irritable bowel syndrome patients: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers of medicine · 2024Trial
- Anti-irritable Bowel Syndrome Syrup Improves Constipation-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2020Trial
- Factors Associated With Response to Placebo in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Constipation.Clinical gastroenterology and hepatology : the official clinical practice journal of the American Gastroenterological Association · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome: primary care based pragmatic randomised controlled trial.BMC gastroenterology · 2012Trial
- "Maybe I made up the whole thing": placebos and patients' experiences in a randomized controlled trial.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2009Trial
- Article
- The Autonomic Nervous System in Acupuncture for Gastrointestinal Dysmotility: From Anatomical Insights to Clinical Medicine.International journal of medical sciences · 2025Review
- The Importance of Visceral Hypersensitivity in Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Plant Metabolites in IBS Treatment.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to compare the effects of true and sham acupuncture in relieving symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
methodsA total of 230 adult IBS patients (75 % females, average age: 38.4 years) were randomly assigned to 3 weeks of true or sham acupuncture (6 treatments) after a 3-week "run-in" with sham acupuncture in an "augmented" or "limited" patient-practitioner interaction. A third arm of the study included a waitlist control group. The primary outcome was the IBS Global Improvement Scale (IBS-GIS) (range: 1 - 7); secondary outcomes included the IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS), the IBS Adequate Relief (IBS-AR), and the IBS Quality of Life (IBS-QOL).
resultsAlthough there was no statistically significant difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture on the IBS-GIS (41 vs. 32 % , P = 0.25), both groups improved significantly compared with the waitlist control group (37 vs. 4 % , P = 0.001). Similarly, small differences that were not statistically significant favored acupuncture over the other three outcomes: IBS-AR(59 vs. 57 % , P = 0.83), IBS-SSS (31 vs. 21 % , P = 0.18), and IBS-QOL (17 vs. 13 % , P = 0.56). Eliminating responders during the run-in period did not substantively change the results. Side effects were generally mild and only slightly greater in the acupuncture group.
conclusionsThis study did not find evidence to support the superiority of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture in the treatment of IBS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.