Bai 2007i.

Methods	Random numbers table Outcomes not blinded (medium‐intensity vs low‐intensity data set)
Participants	1 centre in China 111 participants within 2 weeks of stroke Baseline characteristics similar No cross‐overs or dropouts identified Dysphagia defined by Watian swallow test
Interventions	A1: shallow needling (control) (n = 35) = low intensity A2: single deep needling (n = 18) = medium intensity B: deep multi‐needling
Outcomes	Watian drinking test grade Return to normal diet
Notes	Exclusions: needle phobia, infection risk, dementia, inability to co‐operate with treatment
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	High risk	Randomisation via a random numbers table
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Unclear
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Unclear
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Unclear
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Outcomes not blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Unclear
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Unclear
Other bias	Unclear risk	Translated from Chinese language