Ma 2001.

Methods	Randomised controlled trial, parallel groups
Participants	Setting: hospital inpatients and outpatients Treatment group: (boys): 30 (23) Control group (boys): 30 (18) Age: Treatment group: < 5 years (4), 5 to 10 years (6), 10 to 16 years (20); Control group: < 5 years (2), 5 to 10 years (9), 10 to 16 years (19) Inclusion: generalized epilepsy, < 16 years Seizure type: generalized epilepsy Duration of epilepsy: Treatment group: < 1 year (10), 1 to 5 years (12), 5 to 10 years (5), 10 to 15 years (3); Control group: < 1 year (13), 1 to 5 (10), 5 to 10 years (5), 10 to 15 years (2) Aetiology of epilepsy: Treatment group: antenatal problems (2), caesarian section (5), forceps delivery (2), birth asphyxia (4), history of febrile convulsion (8), history of trauma (6), history of brain disorder (4), mental retardation (2), history of intoxication (2), history of phobia (2), family history of epilepsy (1); Control group: antenatal problems (5), caesarian section (5), forceps delivery (2), birth asphyxia (5), history of febrile convulsion (7), history of trauma (5), history of brain disorder (5), mental retardation (1), history of intoxication (6), history of phobia (2), family history of epilepsy (1), prematurity (1), history of hypocalcaemic seizure (1) Baseline seizure frequency: Treatment group: > 1/day (12), 1 to 6/week (7), 1 to 3/month (6), 1/1 to 2 months (2), 1/2 to 4 months (1), 1/4 to 6 months (2); Control group: > 1/day (5), 1 to 6/week (3), 1 to 3/month (9), 1/1 to 2 months (4), 1/2 to 4 months (6), 1/4 to 6 months (3) Number of AEDs taken: not available
Interventions	Treatment group: acupuncture + mixed Chinese herbal capsule (Xi Feng capsule). Acupuncture at 6 points for 30 minutes, daily for 8 days then rest for 2 days then begin another course. Additional acupuncture at 1or 2 acupoints depending on Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis. Xi Feng capsule to be taken 3 times at age‐dependent dosage: < 1 year (1 tab), 1 to 3 years (2 tabs), 4 to 16 years (age‐1 tabs, max 8 tabs) Control group: Xi Feng capsule alone Duration of treatment: 6 months
Outcomes	75% or greater reduction in seizure frequency 50% or greater reduction in seizure frequency 25% or greater reduction in seizure frequency 75% or greater reduction in seizure duration 50% or greater reduction in seizure duration 4 points or greater improvement in EEG 2 points or greater improvement in EEG Post‐treatment EEG abnormality: severe, moderate, mild, borderline
Notes	Duration of follow‐up: 6 months
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Random sequence generation was not described
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Allocation concealment was not described
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	The participants and personnel and outcome assessors were not blinded
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	The participants and personnel and outcome assessors were not blinded
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	The outcome assessors were not blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	There were no dropouts
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All outcomes were reported
Other bias	High risk	The treatment and the control groups were not comparable at baseline since the treatment group had more frequent seizures. There was no sham or placebo control and hence there might be placebo effect which causes bias. Treatment was variable within the treatment group and might introduce bias