SynthesisArchives of internal medicine2012
Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Archives of internal medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 9 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 431 papers, 22 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.
Acupuncture for the Treatment of Vulvodynia
Acupuncture for Female Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome and Its Effect on the Urinary Microbiome: A Randomized Controlled Trial
The Application of Evidence-Based Chinese Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Hospice Palliative Care in Taiwan-The Second and Third Year Project.
Treatment of Headache Disorders With Acupuncture: Observational Study (HDACU)
Battlefield Acupuncture for Acute/Subacute Back Pain in the Emergency Department
Acupuncture Combined With Mindfulness in the Context of Chronic Pain
A Retrospective Longitudinal Cohort Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Integrated a Clinical Pathway Approach for Chronic Pain Treatment With Acupuncture in a Pain Clinic
Auricular Point Acupressure to Manage Chemotherapy Induced Neuropathy
The Acupuncture for Pain, Opioid Use Disorder and Mood (AcuPOM) Study: A Pilot Trial
Who cites it
431 citing papers in PubMed, 22 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 962 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is the location of the needling point in sham acupuncture for tension-type headache associated with outcomes? A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of acupuncture for primary osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 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
- Bibliometric and visual analysis in the field of electroacupuncture's analgesia and regulation on negative emotion from 2014 to 2024.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of sham acupuncture validation studies.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024Pooled it
- Global trends of acupuncture clinical research on analgesia from 2010 to 2023: a bibliometric and visualization analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled 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
- Risk of Hepatitis C Virus Transmission through Acupuncture: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The Korean journal of gastroenterology = Taehan Sohwagi Hakhoe chi · 2023Pooled it
- Acupuncture for menstrual migraine: a systematic review.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2022Pooled it
- Skin Temperature of Acupoints in Health and Disease: A Systematic Review.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Guideline Acupuncture for low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the Hong Kong taskforce of standardized acupuncture practice.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2022Guideline
- Effects of Acupuncture on Breast Cancer Patients Taking Aromatase Inhibitors.BioMed research international · 2022Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture for the treatment of frozen shoulder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of acupuncture for migraine prophylaxis: a trial sequential meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2021Pooled it
- Acupuncture for palliative cancer pain management: systematic review.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2021Pooled it
- Do the effects of acupuncture vary between acupuncturists? Analysis of the Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration individual patient data meta-analysis.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2021Pooled 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
- Complementary and alternative therapies for post-caesarean pain.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Acupuncture versus propranolol in migraine prophylaxis: an indirect treatment comparison meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2020Pooled it
- Acupuncture for the Relief of Chronic Pain: A Synthesis of Systematic Reviews.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2019Pooled it
371 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 8 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAlthough acupuncture is widely used for chronic pain, there remains considerable controversy as to its value. We aimed to determine the effect size of acupuncture for 4 chronic pain conditions: back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, chronic headache, and shoulder pain.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for chronic pain in which allocation concealment was determined unambiguously to be adequate. Individual patient data meta-analyses were conducted using data from 29 of 31 eligible RCTs, with a total of 17 922 patients analyzed.
resultsIn the primary analysis, including all eligible RCTs, acupuncture was superior to both sham and no-acupuncture control for each pain condition (P < .001 for all comparisons). After exclusion of an outlying set of RCTs that strongly favored acupuncture, the effect sizes were similar across pain conditions. Patients receiving acupuncture had less pain, with scores that were 0.23 (95% CI, 0.13-0.33), 0.16 (95% CI, 0.07-0.25), and 0.15 (95% CI, 0.07-0.24) SDs lower than sham controls for back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headache, respectively; the effect sizes in comparison to no-acupuncture controls were 0.55 (95% CI, 0.51-0.58), 0.57 (95% CI, 0.50-0.64), and 0.42 (95% CI, 0.37-0.46) SDs. These results were robust to a variety of sensitivity analyses, including those related to publication bias.
conclusionsAcupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain and is therefore a reasonable referral option. Significant differences between true and sham acupuncture indicate that acupuncture is more than a placebo. However, these differences are relatively modest, suggesting that factors in addition to the specific effects of needling are important contributors to the therapeutic effects of acupuncture.
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.