Table 6.
Results of univariate meta-regression analyses for the effect of acupuncture characteristics on acupuncture effect. β is an estimate of the change in the effect of acupuncture in terms of standardized difference compared to controls for each characteristic; a positive β indicates a larger effect of acupuncture compared to controls for trials. N is number of trials. The number of patients in the analysis and number of patients in included trials are given in parentheses where applicable.
| Sham acupuncture | No acupuncture control | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | β | 95% CI | p value | N | β | 95% CI | p value | |
| Style of acupuncture | 25 | 25 | ||||||
| Some TCM vs. Western only | −0.00 | −0.49, 0.48 | >0.9 | 0.10 | −0.55, 0.74 | 0.8 | ||
| TCM only vs. some Western | 0.02 | −0.38, 0.42 | 0.9 | −0.07 | −0.42, 0.28 | 0.7 | ||
| Point prescription | 25 | 25 | ||||||
| Fixed needle formula | Ref. | 0.6 | Ref. | 0.075 | ||||
| Flexible formula | 0.20 | −0.21, 0.60 | 0.01 | −0.45, 0.46 | ||||
| Fully individualized | −0.01 | −0.75, 0.73 | −0.34 | −0.79, 0.10 | ||||
| Electrical stimulation allowed | 25 | 0.32 | −0.11, 0.75 | 0.14 | 25 | −0.12 | −0.50, 0.26 | 0.5 |
| Manual stimulation allowed | 25 | 0.26 | −0.42, 0.95 | 0.5 | 25 | −0.38 | −0.99, 0.23 | 0.2 |
| Moxibustion allowed | No trials allowed | 25 | −0.32 | −0.71, 0.06 | 0.10 | |||
| Other adjunctive treatment allowed | 25 | −0.04 | −1.00, 0.92 | 0.9 | 25 | −0.22 | −0.59, 0.16 | 0.3 |
| De qi attempted | 25 | 0.29 | −0.67, 1.24 | 0.6 | 21 | 0.74 | −0.04, 1.52 | 0.063 |
| Acupuncture-specific patient practitioner interactions allowed | 25 | −0.03 | −0.50, 0.44 | 0.9 | 25 | −0.05 | −0.38, 0.28 | 0.8 |
| Minimum experience required (years) | 25 | 0.04 | −0.05, 0.13 | 0.4 | 25 | 0.05 | −0.03, 0.12 | 0.2 |
| Maximum number of sessions (per 5 sessions) | 25 | −0.01 | −0.23, 0.22 | 0.9 | 25 | 0.01 | −0.12, 0.14 | 0.9 |
| Patient-level analysis | 5 (1317/1377) | 0.09 | −0.31, 0.48 | 0.7 | 5 (8036/10157) | 0.10 | −0.01, 0.21 | 0.001 |
| Patient-level analysis, including Hinman trial | 6 (1421/1517) | −0.03 | −0.36, −0.30 | 0.9 | ||||
| Frequency of sessions (per week) | 25 | −0.06 | −0.29, 0.18 | 0.6 | 25 | 0.21 | −0.22, 0.64 | 0.3 |
| Duration of sessions (per 5 minutes) | 25 | 0.06 | −0.13, 0.25 | 0.5 | 20 | −0.06 | −0.25, 0.13 | 0.5 |
| Patient-level analysis | 6 (2863/2969) | 0.01 | −0.08, 0.09 | 0.9 | ||||
| Number of needles used (per 5 needles) | 25 | 0.05 | −0.17, 0.27 | 0.6 | 19 | 0.16 | −0.05, 0.38 | 0.13 |
| Patient-level analysis | 5 (2232/2317) | 0.04 | −0.08, 0.16 | 0.5 | ||||
| Age of practitioner (per 5 years) | ||||||||
| Patient-level analysis | 6 (9127/10550) | −0.01 | −0.04, 0.02 | 0.5 | ||||
| Male practitioner | ||||||||
| Patient-level analysis | 6 (9384/10550) | −0.07 | −0.16, 0.02 | 0.084 | ||||