Objective : The purpose of this study is to work on the problems and on the direction of the study regarding the evidence-based study of Acupuncture.
Methods : We reviewed the PubMed electronic database. Eight articles of systematic review without meta-analysis and six articles without meta-analysis were selected.
Results :
In the study of eight articles of systematic review without meta-analysis, there were two articles on effectiveness of acupuncture and one on non-effectiveness of acupuncture. Four articles were about the changes according to the quality of randomized controlled trials. Also, one article was about the side-effect of acupuncture. In the study of six articles of systematic review with meta-analysis, there were two articles on Odds Ratio, two on Relative Risk, one on number-needed-to-treat, and two on 18 predefined methodological criteria.
Conclusion :
As the quality of RCTs was high, positive response decreased and as the quality of RCTs was low, positive response increased. For the study of evidence-based acupuncture, it is necessary that we conduct research on well-planned placebo acupuncture, large sample size, statistical method, method of searching and assessing literature and method of meta-analysis.
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