SynthesisBMC medicine2010
How large are the nonspecific effects of acupuncture? A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in BMC medicine, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02746497 (The Efficacy of ACupuncture On Menopausal Symptoms), which is not on this map. Cited by 76 papers, 12 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.
The Efficacy of ACupuncture On Menopausal Symptoms (ACOM): A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 180 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions for managing clinically relevant sleep disturbances or insomnia in cancer patients and survivors: an up-to-date systematic review and meta-analysis of self-reported sleep disturbance.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Acupuncture for Chronic Pain Management in Haemophilic Arthropathy: A Systematic Review.Haemophilia : the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of acupuncture therapy on the symptoms and immune indicators of ankylosing spondylitis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Placebo Response among Different Types of Sham Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Chinese journal of integrative medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Trends and quality of randomized controlled trials on acupuncture conducted in Japan by decade from the 1960s to the 2010s: a systematic review.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2023Pooled it
- The importance of selecting the correct site to apply spinal manipulation when treating spinal pain: Myth or reality? A systematic review.Scientific reports · 2021Pooled it
- Acupuncture for symptomatic gastroparesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Acupuncture for neuropathic pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Sham Electroacupuncture Methods in Randomized Controlled Trials.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effect of acupuncture treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis on brain fluctuation amplitude and functional connectivity: a randomized three-armed fMRI study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acupuncture during hospitalization: a three-arm double-blinded randomized sham-controlled trial.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2022Trial
- Manual acupuncture versus sham acupuncture and usual care for prophylaxis of episodic migraine without aura: multicentre, randomised clinical trial.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2020Trial
- Local and Systemic Analgesic Effects of Nerve-Specific Acupuncture in Healthy Adults, Measured by Quantitative Sensory Testing.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for functional constipation: a randomised, sham-controlled pilot trial.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2018Trial
- Acupuncture analgesia involves modulation of pain-induced gamma oscillations and cortical network connectivity.Scientific reports · 2017Trial
- Efficacy and safety of electroacupuncture in acute decompensated heart failure: a study protocol for a randomized, patient- and assessor-blinded, sham controlled trial.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Trial
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhile several recent large randomized trials found clinically relevant effects of acupuncture over no treatment or routine care, blinded trials comparing acupuncture to sham interventions often reported only minor or no differences. This raises the question whether (sham) acupuncture is associated with particularly potent nonspecific effects. We aimed to investigate the size of nonspecific effects associated with acupuncture interventions.
methodsMEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials and reference lists were searched up to April 2010 to identify randomized trials of acupuncture for any condition, including both sham and no acupuncture control groups. Data were extracted by one reviewer and verified by a second. Pooled standardized mean differences were calculated using a random effects model with the inverse variance method.
resultsThirty-seven trials with a total of 5754 patients met the inclusion criteria. The included studies varied strongly regarding patients, interventions, outcome measures, methodological quality and effect sizes reported. Among the 32 trials reporting a continuous outcome measure, the random effects standardized mean difference between sham acupuncture and no acupuncture groups was -0.45 (95% confidence interval, -0.57, -0.34; I2 = 54%; Egger's test for funnel plot asymmetry, P = 0.25). Trials with larger effects of sham over no acupuncture reported smaller effects of acupuncture over sham intervention than trials with smaller nonspecific effects (β = -0.39, P = 0.029).
conclusionsSham acupuncture interventions are often associated with moderately large nonspecific effects which could make it difficult to detect small additional specific effects. Compared to inert placebo interventions, effects associated with sham acupuncture might be larger, which would have considerable implications for the design and interpretation of clinical trials.
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.