Blinding Measured: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture

Table 3

Blinding index values computed from 54 studies.

Study	𝑁	VBI	VBI 95% CI	SBI	SBI 95% CI	Scenario	Study outcome
Assefi et al. 2005 [14]	75	−0.17	−0.49 to 0.15	0.3	0.10 to 0.49	Random/unblinded	Negative
Kaptchuk et al. 2008 [15]	148	0.12	−0.07 to 0.31	−0.52	−0.69 to −0.35	Random/opposite	Positive
Kennedy et al. 2008 [9]	45	0.18	−0.13 to 0.49	−0.38	−0.70 to −0.05	Random/opposite	Positive
Barlas et al. 2006 [6]	48	−0.09	NA	−0.06	NA	Random/random	Positive
Deng et al. 2008 [16]	53	0.08	−0.30 to 0.46	0.19	−0.18 to 0.55	Random/random	Negative
Enblom et al. 2008 [7]	80	0.2	0.00 to 0.40	0.1	−0.13 to 0.33	Random/random	Positive
Endres et al. 2007 [17]	403	−0.16	−0.35 to 0.03	−0.04	−0.24 to 0.16	Random/random	Positive
Haake et al. 2007 [8]	692	−0.01	−0.09 to 0.07	0.11	0.03 to 0.19	Random/random	Positive
Harris et al. 2009 [18]	20	0.2	−0.26 to 0.66	−0.2	−0.57 to 0.17	Random/random	Positive
Shin et al. 2010 [19]	42	−0.05	−0.35 to 0.18	0.05	−0.23 to 0.33	Random/random	Negative
Zaslawski et al. 1997 [20]	64	0.12	−0.37 to 0.13	0.03	−0.28 to 0.21	Random/random	Positive
Deng et al. 2007 [21]	67	0	−0.29 to 0.29	0.46	0.17 to 0.75	Random/unblinded	Negative
Jubb et al. 2008 [22]	51	0.18	−0.14 to 0.51	0.3	0.03 to 0.56	Random/unblinded	Positive
Alecrim-Andrade et al. 2006 [23]	24	0.21	0.11 to 0.33	−0.29	−0.37 to −0.20	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
Berman et al. 2004 [24]	283	0.73	0.63 to 0.82	−0.48	−0.61 to −0.35	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Brinkhaus et al. 2006 [25]	205	0.44	0.30 to 0.57	−0.24	−0.42 to −0.05	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Enblom et al. 2011 [26]	190	0.72	0.60 to 0.83	−0.6	−0.74 to −0.46	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Fink et al. 2001 [27]	64	1	NA	−0.75	−0.98 to −0.52	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Goddard et al. 2005 [28]	49	0.58	0.26 to 0.91	−0.76	−1.01 to −0.50	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Goldman et al. 2008 [29]	118	0.42	0.24 to 0.60	−0.62	−0.77 to −0.47	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
Itoh et al. 2006 [30]	19	0.48	0.14 to 0.81	−0.32	−0.70 to 0.07	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Itoh et al. 2008 [31]	24	0.56	0.01 to 1.10	−0.5	−1.10 to 0.10	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Lee et al. 2008 [32]	89	0.91	0.79 to 1.03	−0.68	−0.90 to −0.47	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Lee et al. 2011 [33]	35	0.23	−0.06 to 0.51	−0.56	−0.80 to −0.31	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Park et al. 2002 [34]	58	0.38	0.20 to 0.56	−0.31	−0.48 to −0.14	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Park et al. 2005 [35]	94	0.47	0.32 to 0.61	−0.31	−0.48 to −0.13	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
Shen et al. 2009 [36]	12	0.63	0.24 to 1.01	−0.5	−0.99 to −0.01	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Sherman et al. 2002 [37]	52	0.65	0.34 to 0.96	−0.52	−0.80 to −0.24	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Smith et al. 2007 [38]	27	1	NA	−1	NA	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
So et al. 2009 [39]	370	0.52	0.43 to 0.61	−0.36	−0.46 to −0.25	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
Streitberger and Kleinhenz 1998 [40]	60	0.8	0.65 to 0.95	−0.57	−0.77 to −0.36	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Streitberger et al. 2004 [41]	212	0.22	0.06 to 0.37	−0.25	−0.38 to −0.11	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
Tong et al. 2010 [42]	63	1	NA	−0.81	−1.06 to −0.56	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Tough et al. 2009 [43]	37	0.57	0.30 to 0.75	−0.67	−0.93 to −0.40	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Venzke et al. 2010 [44]	51	0.48	0.15 to 0.81	−0.42	−0.78 to −0.05	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
White et al. 1996 [45]	9	1	NA	−0.6	−1.30 to 0.10	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
White et al. 2000 [46]	44	0.61	0.35 to 0.87	−0.26	−0.56 to 0.04	Unblinded/opposite	Negative
White et al. 2007 [47]	37	0.77	0.55 to 0.98	−0.29	−0.61 to 0.03	Unblinded/opposite	Positive
Alecrim-Andrade et al. 2008 [48]	36	0.26	0.14 to 0.39	−0.12	−0.23 to −0.00	Unblinded/random	Negative
Harris et al. 2005 [49]	76	0.25	−0.09 to 0.59	−0.13	−0.50 to 0.23	Unblinded/random	Negative
Lao et al. 1999 [50]	39	0.47	0.17 to 0.78	0.05	−0.21 to 0.31	Unblinded/random	Positive
Linde et al. 2005 [51]	201	0.5	0.38 to 0.63	−0.06	−0.26 to 0.15	Unblinded/random	Negative
Nabeta and Kawakita 2002 [52]	34	0.41	0.01 to 0.81	−0.18	−0.61 to 0.26	Unblinded/random	Positive
Shen and Goddard 2007 [53]	15	0.78	0.37 to 1.19	0	−0.80 to 0.80	Unblinded/random	Positive
Streitberger et al. 2008 [54]	20	0.55	0.29 to 0.81	−0.15	0.46 to 0.16	Unblinded/random	Positive
Takakura and Yajima 2007 [55]	60	0.6	0.40 to 0.80	0.17	−0.08 to 0.42	Unblinded/random	Positive
Takakura and Yajima 2008 [56]	114	0.37	0.20 to 0.54	−0.12	−0.30 to 0.06	Unblinded/random	Positive
Tan et al. 2009 [57]	20	0.25	0.04 to 0.46	0.1	−0.12 to 0.32	Unblinded/random	Positive
Tsukayama et al. 2006 BL23 [58]	20	0.4	−0.00 to 0.80	0	−0.44 to 0.44	Unblinded/random	Negative
Wasan et al. 2010 [59]	40	0.8	0.61 to 0.99	0	−0.31 to 0.31	Unblinded/random	Negative
Chae et al. 2011 [60]	28	0.57	0.14 to 1.00	0.71	0.35 to 1.08	Unblinded/unblinded	Positive
Kreiner et al. 2010 [61]	32	0.34	0.11 to 0.57	0.44	0.22 to 0.66	Unblinded/unblinded	Positive
Tsukayama et al. 2006 L14 [58]	20	1	NA	0.3	−0.12 to 0.72	Unblinded/unblinded	Negative
Wayne et al. 2008 [62]	14	0.22	−0.19 to 0.63	0.4	−0.30 to 1.10	Unblinded/unblinded	Positive