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

Table 6

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

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 gender	𝑛=190					.760
Verum acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
Man	𝑛=18	16 (89)	1 (6)	1 (6)	0.88 (0.66–1.11)
woman	𝑛=77	58 (75)	5 (6)	14 (18)	0.69 (0.56–0.82)
Sham acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
man	𝑛=14	11 (79)	1 (7)	2 (14)	−0.71 (1.02–−0.41)*
woman	𝑛=81	57 (70)	10 (13)	14 (17)	−0.58 (−0.73–−0.43)
Blinding, by age	𝑛=190					.357
Verum acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
19–40 years old	𝑛=9	8 (89)	0 (0)	1 (11)	0.89 (0.68–1.09)
41–65 years old	𝑛=40	33 (83)	2 (5)	5 (13)	0.78 (0.61–0.94)
66–91 years old	𝑛=46	33 (72)	4 (8)	9 (18)	0.63 (0.44–0.81)
Sham acupuncture 𝑛 (%)
19–40 years old	𝑛=11	6 (55)	2 (18)	3 (27)	−0.36 (−0.82–0.09)
41–65 years old	𝑛=38	28 (74)	4 (11)	6 (16)	−0.63 (−0.84–−0.42)
66–91 years old	𝑛=46	34 (74)	5 (11)	7 (15)	−0.63 (−0.82–−0.44)

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. Total 𝑛=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. *Statistically significant difference between the subgroups.