The Nonpenetrating Telescopic Sham Needle May Blind Patients with Different Characteristics and Experiences When Treated by Several Therapists

Table 5

The ability to identify if verum or sham acupuncture was given in subgroups of patients with different expectations and experiences of acupuncture.

Subgroup		Stated: Penetrating the skin^1	Stated: Placed against the skin^1	Not sure at all, guessed	Bang’s blinding index^2 (95% Confidence interval)	𝑃 value multivariate analysis^3
Blinding, by previous acupuncture-experience	𝑛=185^4					.578
Verum acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
acupuncture-experienced	𝑛=31	23 (74)	1 (3)	7 (23)	0.71 (0.53–0.89)
acupuncture-naïve	𝑛=63	50 (79)	5 (8)	8 (13)	0.69 (0.53–0.85)
Sham acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
acupuncture-experienced	𝑛=31	25 (81)	2 (6)	4 (13)	−0.74 (−0.94–−0.54)
acupuncture-naïve	𝑛=60	43 (72)	8 (13)	9 (15)	−0.58 (−0.76–−0.40)
Blinding, by occurrence of at least one episode of nausea within the radiotherapy-period	𝑛=190					.157
Verum acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
Nausea at least one episode	𝑛=63	52 (83)	4 (6)	7 (11)	0.75 (0.61–0.89)
Free from nausea	𝑛=32	22 (69)	2 (6)	8 (25)	0.63 (0.42–0.83)
Sham acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
Nausea	𝑛=56	41 (73)	6 (11)	9 (16)	−0.63 (−0.80–0.45)
Free from nausea	𝑛=39	27 (69)	5 (13)	7 (18)	−0.56 (−0.79–−0.34)
Blinding, by believe in received antiemetic effects	𝑛=190					.008
Verum acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
Believe not	𝑛=0	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	—^5
Believe little	𝑛=5	3 (60)	0 (0)	2 (40)	0.60 (0.17–1.02)
Believe moderately	𝑛=31	25 (81)	2 (6)	4 (13)	0.79 (0.59–0.99)
Believe much	𝑛=59	46 (78)	4 (7)	9 (15)	0.71 (0.56–0.86)
Sham acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
Believe not	𝑛=1	0 (0)	1 (100)	0 (0)	—^5
Believe little	𝑛=3	1 (33)	1 (33)	1 (33)	—^5
Believe moderately	𝑛=34	23 (68)	3 (9)	8 (24)	−0.59 (−0.81–−0.37)
Believe much	𝑛=57	44 (79)	6 (11)	7 (13)	−0.64 (−0.81–−0.48)

¹The individuals were fairly or entirely sure of their answer. ²Correct answers/total 𝑛—incorrect answers/total 𝑛. The number (𝑛) of patients answering the questions is presented. Total𝑛=190 of the entering 215 patients (18 interrupted radiotherapy and/or verum/sham acupuncture and 7 did not provide blinding data). ³Including the variables seen in Tables 4–6 and received needling type. ⁴Five patients did not answer the acupuncture-experience question. ⁵Blinding index was not calculated due to low 𝑛 within the subgroup (𝑛<5).