ArticleJournal of pain research2020
Evaluating the Characteristics, Reporting and Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews of Acupuncture for Low Back Pain by Using the Veritas Plot.
Article in Journal of pain research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The efficacy of ultrasound-guided erector spinae plane block (ESPB) versus freehand ESPB in postoperative pain management after lumbar spinal fusion surgery: a randomized, non-inferiority trial.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Trial
- From "spleen governing muscle" to gut microbiota: mechanisms of sarcopenic obesity in perimenopausal women.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Acupuncture for Low Back Pain: Reevaluation of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses.Current pain and headache reports · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate systematic reviews (SRs) of acupuncture for low back pain (LBP) in terms of characteristics, reporting and methodological quality using a Veritas plot and to explore factors that may be associated with methodological quality and reporting quality. STUDY DESIGN AND
settingWe searched 8 electronic bibliographic databases to find all SRs, and we evaluated the SRs' quality in 6 dimensions, including publication year, design type, homogeneity, risk of publication bias, methodological quality by Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 and reporting quality by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA). Excel 2010 and Adobe Illustrator CC were used to draw and optimize Veritas plots. Exploratory analysis was done using SPSS software version 23.0 to explore factors related to AMSTAR-2 and PRISMA scores. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence quality evaluation tool was used to grade all the outcome indicators in the included literature.
resultsWe included 19 SRs in the analysis. Literature quality rank scores ranged from 9.67 to 17.00, with an average score of 13.18 ± 2.35. The average score of AMSTAR-2 was 7.47, and the average score of PRISMA was 18.47. Overall, the main issues were research strategies, inclusion and exclusion criteria, publication bias, and registration in PROSPERO. The results of exploratory analysis showed that duplication of literature selected and appropriate tools to assess the risk of bias were related to the AMSTAR-2 score, and the summary of evidence was related to the PRISMA score. The GRADE quality evaluation results showed mainly low quality.
conclusionThe quality of SRs on acupuncture for low back pain should be improved, mainly by strengthening the methodological quality and reporting quality. The Veritas plot is an effective graphical evaluation method that is worth popularizing.
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.