Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research
Acupuncture treatment can be defined as a medical procedure with an acupuncture needle at acupoints. Establishing suitable control settings is essential, based on the target elements of the acupuncture therapy. In order to properly design a clinical trial or an experiment, a control group must be es...
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| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Integrative Medicine Research |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422024000064 |
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| author | Younbyoung Chae Jun-Hwan Lee Myeong Soo Lee |
| author_facet | Younbyoung Chae Jun-Hwan Lee Myeong Soo Lee |
| author_sort | Younbyoung Chae |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Acupuncture treatment can be defined as a medical procedure with an acupuncture needle at acupoints. Establishing suitable control settings is essential, based on the target elements of the acupuncture therapy. In order to properly design a clinical trial or an experiment, a control group must be established. Here, we overview the significance of the control group and its limitations in acupuncture research. Clinical trials have employed a variety of study designs and controls for acupuncture treatment in order to compare the effects of actual treatments with control groups that include no treatment or treatment as usual, sham acupuncture at true acupoints, real acupuncture at non-acupoints, and sham acupuncture at non-acupoints. In order to determine the point-specificity of acupuncture, real acupuncture at non-acupoints should be taken into consideration, whereas sham acupuncture at the same true acupoints should be used to determine the needling-specific effect of acupuncture. It is crucial to choose the optimum control for acupuncture treatments depending on the study's main goal and to interpret the results in accordance with the research design. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dde7eb04054c4458bee88a08ba36e932 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2213-4220 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Integrative Medicine Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-dde7eb04054c4458bee88a08ba36e9322025-08-20T03:26:04ZengElsevierIntegrative Medicine Research2213-42202024-03-0113110102610.1016/j.imr.2024.101026Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in researchYounbyoung Chae0Jun-Hwan Lee1Myeong Soo Lee2Department of Meridian and Acupoints, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of KoreaKM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Department of Korean Convergence Medical Science, KIOM School, University of Science & Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusettes General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USAKM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Department of Korean Convergence Medical Science, KIOM School, University of Science & Technology (UST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Corresponding author at: KM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.Acupuncture treatment can be defined as a medical procedure with an acupuncture needle at acupoints. Establishing suitable control settings is essential, based on the target elements of the acupuncture therapy. In order to properly design a clinical trial or an experiment, a control group must be established. Here, we overview the significance of the control group and its limitations in acupuncture research. Clinical trials have employed a variety of study designs and controls for acupuncture treatment in order to compare the effects of actual treatments with control groups that include no treatment or treatment as usual, sham acupuncture at true acupoints, real acupuncture at non-acupoints, and sham acupuncture at non-acupoints. In order to determine the point-specificity of acupuncture, real acupuncture at non-acupoints should be taken into consideration, whereas sham acupuncture at the same true acupoints should be used to determine the needling-specific effect of acupuncture. It is crucial to choose the optimum control for acupuncture treatments depending on the study's main goal and to interpret the results in accordance with the research design.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422024000064AcupunctureControlDesignSham |
| spellingShingle | Younbyoung Chae Jun-Hwan Lee Myeong Soo Lee Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research Integrative Medicine Research Acupuncture Control Design Sham |
| title | Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research |
| title_full | Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research |
| title_fullStr | Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research |
| title_short | Using the right design controls for acupuncture trials: Methodological rigor and validity in research |
| title_sort | using the right design controls for acupuncture trials methodological rigor and validity in research |
| topic | Acupuncture Control Design Sham |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213422024000064 |
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