Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2005; 10: 24–5
Development of a comprehensive quality assessment instrument based on the revised CONSORT guidelines for biomedical RCTs (Altman 2001) as modified by the STRICTA recommendations for acupuncture trials (MacPherson et al. 2002) to evaluate the overall quality of reporting in acupuncture RCTs.
Databases were searched to identify English language prospective RCTs from November 1997 through October 2002 (the 5 years following the NIH Consensus Conference), in which treatment at acupuncture points with acupuncture needles using manual and/or electro-stimulation was compared to no treatment, a sham procedure, or usual care. Each of 27 items of the Oregon CONSORT STRICTA Instrument (OCSI) was scored as yes = 2, partial = 1, no = 0 or not applicable using consensus assumptions of five raters.
One hundred and nineteen RCTs were identified from 16 countries and 64 journals. Of the 27 OCSI questions, across all trials, only one had a mean score ≤0.4 while five had means ≥ 1.6 (of a possible 2.0). The mean percentage score for all articles was 58.6; median 60.0. The mean scores of RCTs from CAM journals (n = 42) and biomedical journals (n = 77) were 47.1 and 64.9, respectively. The numbers of RCTs scoring at least 60, 70 and 80% were 60, 35 and 12, respectively. Of the 35 RCTs scoring ≥ 70% (an arbitrary cutoff), 19 had positive outcomes.
Quality of reporting, as reflected in our present and ongoing OCSI analyses, is a key feature of a multifaceted assessment of acupuncture RCTs. Combined with evaluations of appropriateness and adequacy of design, OCSI can update conclusions of the 1997 NIH Consensus Conference on Acupuncture.
Funded by the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine.
