I refer to the above by E Ernst and AR White. Acupuncture for back pain: a
meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Archives of Internal
Medicine 1998, 158; 2235-2241. The article took pride of place in
'Bandolier,Evidenced BAsed Health care' Feb 1999, vol 6 Issue 2.
May I invite comments on this article:
Part of the results show that in four blinded studies, there was no
difference from the control - 57% of patients improved with acupuncture and
50% with control. Five non-blinded studies showed 67% improved with
acupuncture and 38% with control.
The comment stated that, 'Perhaps the biggest problem is that (acupuncture)
trials, as a group, have avoided the hard question of longer term outcomes.
Even if acupuncture provides short-term relief, its place in management of
back pain remains unknown.'
'The question is whether this review (in Bandolier) provides evidence of
lack of effect or lack of evidence of effect. The inability of the four
highest quality binded trials to show statistically significant short-term
improvement must be worrying for those providing acupuncture services, and
for the health services or individual who purchase acupuncture. A sceptical
view seems to be most appropriate until trials of high quality prove that to
be wrong'
Interesting..............
Martin Jones
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