Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23983794›Full record

ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2013

Deqi sensation in placebo acupuncture: a crossover study on chinese medicine students.

Zhao-Hui Liang, Chang-Cai Xie, Zi-Ping Li, Xiao-Ping Zhu, Ai-Ping Lu, Wen-Bin Fu

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.4field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. A systematic review of sham acupuncture validation studies.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2024
    Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Therapeutic Sensations: A New Unifying Concept.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2020
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. How Placebo Needles Differ From Placebo Pills?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2018
    Review
  14. Article
  15. 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

6 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Zhao-Hui LiangThe Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510120, China.
Chang-Cai Xie
Zi-Ping Li
Xiao-Ping Zhu
Ai-Ping Lu
Wen-Bin Fu
Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the similarity of deqi sensation of real and noninvasive placebo acupuncture in healthy people with knowledge of Chinese medicine. Methods. In a crossover design, volunteers recruited from Chinese medicine college students were randomized to two groups to receive two phases of intervention with a one-week washout interval. In Group A, the participants were firstly treated by real acupuncture and then by sham needle, and the treatment sequence was reversed in Group B. VAS for pain intensity and deqi sensation was evaluated as outcomes. Results. Sixty-three volunteers were recruited and 60 were included and finished the study. In Group A, VAS was higher in Phase I than in Phase II (P = 0.017). Only treatment methods were selected as factor to VAS difference (P = 0.046) in ANOVA test. More positive deqi was reported in Group A in Phase I when treated by real acupuncture (P = 0.039), but the difference was not significant in Phase II (P = 0.301). Conclusion. The noninvasive placebo acupuncture device can effetely simulate the deqi sensation as real acupuncture, but it is less likely to evoke the active effect of deqi in real practice. This trial is registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-ORC-09000505.

Identifiers

PMID23983794
PMCPMC3745883
OpenAlexW2002636256

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.