Kim 2011.

Methods	Randomized, single‐blind study of perimenopausal or postmenopausal women with moderate or severe hot flushes. 2 groups: TKM acupuncture and SA
Participants	54 perimenopausal and postmenopausal women (no menstruation for at least 3 months) having desired to receive treatment for hot flushes and complaining of moderate (able to continue activities) and severe hot flushes (not able to continue activities) Women taking medication for hot flushes within the 8 weeks prior to the study; history of cancer within 5 years; having total hysterectomy and serious endocrine or vascular disorders; suffering from psychological problems; and having medical conditions such as uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes mellitus or vaginal bleeding of unknown origin within 6 weeks were excluded Setting: The Dongguk University Ilsan Korean Medicine Hospital in South Korea
Interventions	TKM acupuncture: 20‐minute treatments were given for 7 consecutive weeks (twice per week the 4 first weeks and once per week the remaining 3 weeks) by a traditional Korean medicine doctor (the same for both TA and SA group) having more than 4 years of clinical experience and certified by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. 13 needles (0.30 mm) were inserted 0.2‐10 mm deep at 7 points and manually stimulated. The 'de qi' sensation was the elicited response SA: 20‐minute treatments were given for 7 consecutive weeks (twice per week the 4 first weeks and once per week the remaining 3 weeks) by a TKM doctor (the same for both TA and SA group) having more than 4 years of clinical experience and certified by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. 12 needles (identical to TA group) were inserted on 7 predefined non‐acupuncture points without stimulation, to not elicit the 'de qi' sensation For both groups, all participants were in a separate room with an eye bandage and no patient‐practitioner communication was allowed
Outcomes	Changes in hot flushes scores at week 7 from the start of treatment. Hot flushes scores = hot flushes frequency at day and night (data assessment by diary) x hot flushes severity (data assessment by VAS, 0 to 10). Timing of assessment: each week for a period of 4 weeks prior to treatment, during the treatment (7 weeks) and for the 8 weeks following treatment Frequency and severity of hot flushes Vasomotor symptoms using the MRS, which consists of 11 questions divided into 3 subscales: psychological, somatic, and urogenital. Timing of assessment: at screening (week ‐4), at baseline (week 0), at the end of the treatment (week 7), and follow‐up (week 15)
Source of funding	The Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine
Notes	Follow‐up: 15 weeks (8 weeks after completion of treatment)
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "Random allocation software V1.0 (Department of Anaesthesia, Isfanhan University of Medical Science) was used to randomise patients into two groups. A block size of 4 was used"
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "The allocation of each patient was concealed by placing each random code in an opaque, sealed envelope. These envelopes were opened after the enrolment of the patient" Comments: not mentioned if the envelopes were sequentially numbered
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "Patients were blinded to the type of acupuncture received. All participants were in a separate room with an eye bandage and no‐patient‐practitioner communication was allowed" "All data was collected by a blinded assessor"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Few dropouts and lost of follow‐up (TA, 2 women; SA, 4 women). An ITT approach was used to conduct the analyses
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	The published report included all expected outcomes
Other bias	Low risk	The study appeared free of other sources of bias