Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21799683›Full record

ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2011

Acupuncture to treat primary dysmenorrhea in women: a randomized controlled trial.

Caroline A Smith, Caroline A Crowther, Oswald Petrucco, Justin Beilby, Hannah Dent

Registry-linked trialAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03391986 (Auricular Acupuncture as Adjunct for Pain Management During First Trimester Uterine Aspiration.), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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.

NCT03391986 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2017, after this paper: background citation

Auricular Acupuncture as Adjunct for Pain Management During First Trimester Uterine Aspiration.

TypeinterventionalSponsorColumbia UniversityRan2017 to 2018Enrolled153ConditionsPain Acute, AcupunctureArmsSEIRIN® Pyonex™ Acupuncture Needles, 12 mm Plasters
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Acupuncture for dysmenorrhoea.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016
    Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Trial
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Management of Usr-i-Tamth (Menstrual Pain) in Unani (Greco-Islamic) Medicine.Journal of evidence-based complementary & alternative medicine · 2017
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Analysis and Thoughts about the Negative Results of International Clinical Trials on Acupuncture.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2015
    Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Effects of somatothermal far-infrared ray on primary dysmenorrhea: a pilot study.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2012
    Article
  20. Article
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.

Caroline A SmithCentre for Complementary Medicine Research, University of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Caroline A Crowther
Oswald Petrucco
Justin Beilby
Hannah Dent

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We examined the effectiveness of acupuncture to reduce the severity and intensity of primary dysmenorrhea. A randomized controlled trial compared acupuncture with control acupuncture using a placebo needle. Eligible women were aged 14-25 years with a diagnosis of primary dysmenorrhea. Women received nine sessions of the study treatment over 3 months. The primary outcomes were menstrual pain intensity and duration, overall improvement in dysmenorrhea symptoms and reduced need for additional analgesia, measured at 3, 6 and 12 months from trial entry. A total of 92 women were randomly assigned to the intervention (acupuncture n = 46 and control n = 46). At 3 months although pain outcomes were lower for women in the acupuncture group compared with the control group, there was no significant difference between groups. Women receiving acupuncture reported a small reduction in mood changes compared with the control group, relative risk (RR) 0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53-1.00, P = .05. Follow-up at 6 months found a significant reduction in the duration of menstrual pain in the acupuncture group compared with the control group, mean difference -9.6, 95% CI -18.9 to -0.3, P = .04, and the need for additional analgesia was significantly lower in the acupuncture group compared with the control group, RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49-0.96, P = .03, but the follow-up at 12 months found lack of treatment effect. To conclude, although acupuncture improved menstrual mood symptoms in women with primary dysmenorrhea during the treatment phase, the trend in the improvement of symptoms during the active phase of treatment, and at 6 and 12 months was non-significant, indicating that a small treatment effect from acupuncture on dysmenorrhea may exist. In the study, acupuncture was acceptable and safe, but further appropriately powered trials are needed before recommendations for clinical practice can be made.

Identifiers

PMID21799683
PMCPMC3140031

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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.