Liu 2000.

Methods	Method of randomisation unclear Blinding of outcomes unclear Analysis by ITT unclear Balancing of prognostic baseline factors between treatment groups unclear
Participants	1 centre in China 84 participants with bulbar palsy and CT/MRI‐documented stroke: 54 men, 30 women Age 50 to 78 years Infarct 56, haemorrhage 28 Enrolment within 2 months of stroke onset
Interventions	Rx: acupuncture ‐ Tiantu (CV 22), Lieque (LU 7), Zhaohai (KI 6) ‐ once daily for 10 days (n = 54) C: (n = 30)
Outcomes	Outcome: bulbar function (phonation, swallowing, cough reflex) Timing unclear
Notes	Exclusions: not given
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of randomisation unclear
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Unclear
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding unclear
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding unclear
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding unclear
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Unclear
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Unclear ‐ no clear aim of study
Other bias	Unclear risk	Unclear