Trial reportSpine2010
Treatment expectations and preferences as predictors of outcome of acupuncture for chronic back pain.
Trial report in Spine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02770963 (Efficacy of Acupuncture for Discogenic Sciatica), which is not on this map. Cited by 53 papers, 6 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.
Efficacy of Acupuncture for Discogenic Sciatica: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psychedelic-assisted therapy for treating anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with life-threatening diseases.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Identifying patients with chronic pain who respond to acupuncture: results from an individual patient data meta-analysis.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2021Pooled it
- Effect of Treatment Preference in Randomized Controlled Trials: Systematic Review of the Literature and Meta-Analysis.The patient · 2019Pooled it
- Individual recovery expectations and prognosis of outcomes in non-specific low back pain: prognostic factor review.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Patient expectations for management of chronic non-cancer pain: A systematic review.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2017Pooled it
- The effect of journal impact factor, reporting conflicts, and reporting funding sources, on standardized effect sizes in back pain trials: a systematic review and meta-regression.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2015Pooled it
- Assessment of patient preferences in digital health trials: procedure development and implementation in a preference-based trial.BMJ open · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Community-based smoking cessation treatment for adults with high anxiety sensitivity: a randomized clinical trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2021Trial
- "I Was a Little Surprised": Qualitative Insights From Patients Enrolled in a 12-Month Trial Comparing Opioids With Nonopioid Medications for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain.The journal of pain · 2018Trial
- Enhancing treatment of osteoarthritis knee pain by boosting expectancy: A functional neuroimaging study.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2018Trial
- Trial
- Massage Therapy and Quality of Life in Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Qualitative Study.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2017Trial
- Expectancy in real and sham electroacupuncture: does believing make it so?Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Monographs · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Modes of hoping: understanding hope and expectation in the context of a clinical trial of complementary and alternative medicine for chronic pain.Explore (New York, N.Y.)Trial
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Temporal summation does not predict the acupuncture response in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Experiences of Patients Taking Conditioned Open-Label Placebos for Reduction of Postoperative Pain and Opioid Exposure After Spine Surgery.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2023Article
- Expectations for Improvement: A Neglected but Potentially Important Covariate or Moderator for Chronic Pain Clinical Trials.The journal of pain · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
designPreplanned secondary analysis of data from participants receiving acupuncture in a randomized clinical trial.
objectiveTo determine whether patients' expectations of and preferences for acupuncture predict short and long-term treatment outcomes for persons with chronic back pain. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Although accumulating evidence suggests that patient expectations and treatment preferences may predict treatment outcomes, few studies have examined this relationship for acupuncture.
methodsFour hundred seventy-seven acupuncture-naïve participants with chronic low back pain who were randomized to 1 of 3 acupuncture or simulated acupuncture treatments were the focus of this analysis. Ten treatments were provided during a 7-week period, and participants were masked to treatment assignment. Before randomization, participants provided expectations regarding treatment success, impressions, and knowledge about acupuncture and treatment preferences. Outcomes of interest were functional status (Roland score) and symptom bothersomeness at 8 and 52 weeks postrandomization, obtained by telephone interviewers masked to treatment assignment.
resultsPersons with high pretreatment expectations for the success of acupuncture were more likely to report greater general expectations for improvement, a preference for acupuncture, having heard acupuncture was a very effective treatment and having a very or moderately positive impression of acupuncture. However, none of these variables was a significant predictor of improvement in back-related symptoms or function at 8 or 52 weeks. After 1 treatment, participants' revised expectations of treatment success were only associated with back-symptoms at the end of treatment. After 5 treatments, revised expectation of success was predictive of both symptoms and function at 8 and 52 weeks.
conclusionPretreatment expectations and preferences for acupuncture were not found predictive of treatment outcomes for patients with chronic back pain. These results differ from previous studies evaluating acupuncture for chronic back pain. These inconsistent results suggest that the relationship between expectations and outcomes may be more complex than previously believed.
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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.