| Methods |
Design: three group parallel trial
Purpose: examine the effect of acupuncture on cervical maturation |
| Participants |
Patients: women in 37th to 38th week of pregnancy and a Bishop score < 4
Baseline comparability: yes (Bishop score) |
| Interventions |
Placebo: acupuncture in relevant sites
Untreated: no acupuncture (observational)
Experimental: acupuncture 1 cm from relevant sites
(Co‐intervention: standard care) |
| Outcomes |
Bishop score |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Blinding?
Treatment provider |
High risk |
Not described as double‐blind (placebo/acupuncture) |
| Blinding?
Outcome assessor |
Low risk |
'... par un obstétricien ou une sage‐femme, ne connaissant ni l'un, ni l'autre, le groupe de tirage au sort de la patiente' |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed?
All outcomes |
High risk |
|
| Free of selective reporting? |
Unclear risk |
No protocol available |
| Free of other bias? |
Low risk |
|
| No signs of variance inequality or skewness? |
Unclear risk |
Not relevant (not naturally positive continuous outcomes e.g. change) |
| Trial size > 49? |
Low risk |
N = 64 |
| Clearly concealed allocation + trial size > 49 + drop‐out max 15% |
High risk |
|
