Methods | Blinding: none Dropouts/withdrawals: unclear Observation period: baseline 2 months; treatment unclear, no follow-up Acupuncturists’ assessments: GA differently/60% - BB differently/30% |
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Participants | Number of patients included/analyzed: 22?/22 Condition: myogenic headache Demographics: mean age 46 years (acupuncture) and 37 (control); 82% female Setting: neurological outpatient department of university hospital in Finland Time since onset of headaches: 5.7 years |
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Interventions | Acupuncture points: GB8, GB20, BL10, BL12, BL15, Chuanxi and pressure points on the neck No information on acupuncturist(s) DeChi achieved?: no information Number of treatment sessions: unclear (10 minutes each) Frequency of treatment sessions: no information Control intervention: physiotherapy (parafango, massage, ultrasound) |
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Outcomes | Method for outcome measurement: point measurement (no diaries); pain intensity (visual analogue scale) and muscle tension (EMG) were measured; only data for follow-up and only number of patients with global response, response regarding frequency and medication presented | |
Notes | Insufficient reporting; unclear whether there were dropouts/withdrawals, poor outcome measurement; sample size too small to assess equivalence of the two therapies | |
Risk of bias | ||
Item | Authors’ judgement | Description |
Adequate sequence generation? | Unclear | No description |
Allocation concealment? | Unclear | No description |
Blinding? All outcomes | No | No |
Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes | Unclear | No mentioning of attrition |
Free of selective reporting? | No | Visual analogue scales have been used but only global responder measures are re-ported |
Incomplete follow-up outcome data ad-dressed? | Unclear | No mentioning of attrition |