| Methods |
Design: three group parallel trial
Purpose: examine the effect of acupressure on quality of sleep |
| Participants |
Patients: in‐patients with end stage renal disease
Baseline comparability: yes |
| Interventions |
Placebo: acupressure on sites not regarded acupressure sites
Untreated: no acupressure
Experimental: acupressure on sites regarded acupressure sites
(Co‐intervention: standard medical care) |
| Outcomes |
Pittsburgh sleep quality index
Sleep log |
| Notes |
The trial report does not state the number of patients allocated to each group. We assumed that out of 98 patients in the three‐armed trial 32 patients entered the placebo group and 32 patients the no‐treatment group |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Blinding?
Outcome assessor |
Unclear risk |
Not relevant as patient reported outcome |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed?
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Drop‐out < 15% |
| Free of selective reporting? |
High risk |
No protocol available. The trial report does not state the number of patients allocated to each group. We assumed that out of 98 patients in the three‐armed trial 32 patients entered the placebo group and 32 patients the no‐treatment group |
| 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 |
Allocation not clearly concealed |
