Table 3.

Results of evidence assessment.

Quality assessment							No of patients		Effect		Quality	Importance
No of studies	Design	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Other considerations	Acupuncture therapy	Cognitive rehabilitation	Relative (95% CI)	Absolute
Mental State Examination Scale (MMSE)
25	Randomized trials	Seriousa	Seriousb	No serious	Not serious	None	1,049	1,050	-	MD 3.94 higher (3.16 to 4.72 higher)	⊕⊕OO Low	Critical
Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA)
18	Randomized trials	Seriousa	Seriousb	No serious	Not serious	None	731	728	-	MD 3.3 higher (2.53 to 4.07 higher)	⊕⊕OO Low	Critical
Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA)
6	Randomized trials	Seriousa	Seriousb	No serious	Not serious	None	210	206	-	MD 9.53 higher (5.61 to 13.45 higher)	⊕⊕OO Low	Important
Modified Barthel Index (MBI)
17	Randomized trials	Seriousa	Seriousb	No serious	Not serious	None	646	649	-	MD 8.66 higher (5.85 to 11.47 higher)	⊕⊕OO Low	Important
Functional Independence Measure (FIM)
3	Randomized trials	Seriousa	No serious	No serious	Seriousc	None	142	139	-	MD 5.24 higher (3.9 to 6.57 higher)	⊕⊕OO Low	Important

^aInadequate description of allocation concealment and failure to implement or describe blinding of participants and personnel.

^bConsiderable statistical heterogeneity.

^cTotal sample size was < 400.