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

Table 4

Study characteristics extracted from 54 studies.

Study	Total 𝑁	Party blinded	Time of blinding assessment (days from beginning of study)	Deqi assessment (yES/nO)	Sham device	Penetration of sham	Study participant diagnosis	Days since last acupuncture experience
Shen and Goddard 2007 [53]	15	Staff + subject	0	NO	C	NP	Chronic TM pain	Unknown
Itoh et al. 2006 [30]	19	Staff + subject	21	NO	C	NP	Chronic LBP	Unknown
Nabeta and Kawakita; 2002 [52]	34	Subject	28	NO	C	NP	Chronic neck and shoulder pain	Unknown
Tough et al. 2009 [43]	37	Subject	14	NO	C	NP	Whiplash	Unknown
Fink et al. 2001 [27]	64	Staff + subject	14	NO	C	NP	Tension headache	Unknown
Shen et al. 2009 [36]	12	Staff + subject	0	YES	C	NP	Chronic myofacial pain of jaw muscles	>365
Kreiner et al. 2010 [61]	32	Staff + subject	0	NO	C	NP	Normal	>365
Lao et al. 1999 [50]	39	Staff + subject	0.2	YES	C	NP	After oral surgery Pain	>365
Goddard et al. 2005 [28]	49	Subject	0	YES	C	NP	Normal	>365
Jubb et al. 2008 [22]	51	Subject	63	YES	C	NP	Knee OA	>365
Itoh et al. 2008 [31]	24	Staff + subject	35	NO	C	NP	Knee OA	180
Deng et al. 2008 [16]	53	Subject	30	NO	C	NP	After thoracotomy Pain	42
Takakura and Yajima; 2007 [55]	60	Staff + subject	0	NO	C	NP	Normal	0
Takakura and Yajima; 2008 [56]	114	Staff + subject	0	YES	C	NP	Normal	0
Smith et al. 2007 [38]	27	Staff + subject	28	NO	P	NP	TMJ	Unknown
Tan et al. 2009 [57]	20	Subject	0	NO	P	NP	Normal	>365
Kennedy et al. 2008 [9]	45	Subject	42	NO	P	NP	Acute LBP	>365
Park et al. 2002 [34]	58	Staff + subject	84	NO	P	NP	Acute stroke	>365
Park et al. 2005 [35]	94	Staff + subject	14	NO	P	NP	Stroke	>365
Enblom et al. 2011 [26]	190	Staff + subject	35	NO	P	NP	Radiation-induced nausea	365
Tsukayama et al. 2006; BL23 [58]	20	Staff + subject	0	NO	P	NP	Normal	0
Tsukayama et al. 2006; L14 [58]	20	Staff + subject	0	NO	P	NP	Normal	0
Chae et al. 2011 [60]	28	Subject	0	NO	P	NP	Normal	0
Shin et al. 2010 [19]	42	Staff + subject	21	YES	PEN	P	Dry eye	Unknown
Tong et al. 2010 [42]	63	Subject	15	YES	PEN	P	DPN	~50%
Zaslawski et al. 1997 [20]	64	Subject	28	YES	PEN	P	Stress	~50%
Harris et al. 2005 [49]	76	Staff + subject	21	NO	PEN	P	Fibromyaligia	>365
Haake et al. 2007 [8]	692	Staff + subject	168	NO	PEN	P	Chronic LBP	>365
Linde et al. 2005 [51]	201	Staff + subject	168	YES	PEN	P	Migraine HA	365
Brinkhaus et al. 2006 [25]	205	Subject	56	YES	PEN	P	Chronic LBP	365
Endres et al. 2007 [17]	403	Staff + subject	180	YES	PEN	P	Tension headache	365
Alecrim-Andrade et al. 2006 [23]	24	Staff + subject	84	YES	PEN	P	Migraine HA	84
Alecrim-Andrade et al. 2008 [48]	36	Subject	84	YES	PEN	P	Migraine HA	84
Lee et al. 2011 [33]	35	Staff + subject	70	NO	PEN	P	Chronic pelvic pain	42
Lee et al. 2008 [32]	89	Subject	70	NO	PEN	P	Chronic prostatitis	42
White et al. 2007 [47]	37	Subject	0	YES	S	NP	Chronic Pain/Normal	Unknown
So et al. 2009 [39]	370	Staff + subject	0	NO	S	NP	Infertility	Unknown
Wayne et al. 2008 [62]	14	Staff + subject	28	NO	S	NP	Endometriosis	>365
Streitberger et al. 2008 [54]	20	Subject	0	NO	S	NP	Normal	>365
Wasan et al. 2010 [59]	40	Subject	0	YES	S	NP	Chronic LBP	>365
Barlas et al. 2006 [6]	48	Staff + subject	0	YES	S	NP	Normal	>365
Streitberger and Kleinhenz 1998 [40]	60	Subject	0	NO	S	NP	Normal	>365
Enblom et al. 2008 [7]	80	Subject	0	NO	S	NP	Normal	>365
Kaptchuk et al. 2008 [15]	148	Staff + subject	42	NO	S	NP	IBS	>365
Goldman et al. 2008 [29]	118	Staff + subject	28	YES	S	NP	Arm pain	365
Venzke et al. 2010 [44]	51	Subject	168	YES	S	NP	Hot flashes	180
Streitberger et al. 2004 [41]	212	Staff + subject	1	YES	S	NP	postoperative nausea	180
Deng et al. 2007 [21]	67	Subject	42	YES	S	NP	Hot flashes	42
White et al. 1996 [45]	9	Staff + subject	42	NO	T	NP	Tension headache	>365
Harris et al. 2009 [18]	20	Staff + subject	0	NO	T	NP	Fibromyalgia	>365
White et al. 2000 [46]	44	Staff + subject	7	YES	T	NP	Tension headache	>365
Sherman et al. 2002 [37]	52	Subject	0	NO	T	NP	Chronic LBP	>365
Assefi et al. 2005 [14]	75	Staff + subject	84	NO	T	NP, P	Fibromyalgia	>365
Berman et al. 2004 [24]	283	Subject	182	YES	T	NP, P	Knee OA	>365

Sham devices: C: custom sham, P: park sham, PEN: penetrating sham, S: streitberger sham, and T: toothpick.