Assessment of Registration Information on Methodological Design of Acupuncture RCTs: A Review of 453 Registration Records Retrieved from WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform

Table 2

Overall assessment of methodological design based on registration records of acupuncture RCTs.

	Overall	ClinicalTrials.gov	ISRCTN	ChiCTR	ANZCTR	IRCT	JPRN	EU-CTR	DRKS	ReBec	KCT	NTR
	453 (%)	213 (%)	78 (%)	66 (%)	52 (%)	16 (%)	5 (%)	4 (%)	3 (%)	3 (%)	11 (%)	2 (%)
Not mentioned randomization methods	346 (76.4)	209 (98.1)	78 (100)	10 (15.2)	5 (9.6)	16 (100)	5 (100)	4 (100)	3 (100)	3 (100)	11 (100)	2 (100)
Adequate randomization methods	107 (23.6)	4 (1.9)	0 (0)	56 (84.8)	47 (90.4)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
Randomized number table	22	1	0	16	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Computer software or computerised sequence generation	81	2	0	40	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Coin-tossing and dice-rolling	4	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Not mentioned allocation concealment	403 (89.0)	207 (97.2)	78 (100)	65 (98.5)	9 (17.3)	16 (100)	5 (100)	4 (100)	3 (100)	3 (100)	11 (100)	2 (100)
Adequate allocation concealment	48 (10.6)	6 (2.8)	0 (0)	1 (1.5)	41 (78.8) *	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
Opaque sealed envelopes	29	3	0	0	26	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Numbered containers	4	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Central allocation	15	2	0	1	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Not mentioned blinding	97 (21.4)	12 (5.6)	53 (67.9)	26 (39.4)	1 (1.9)	0 (0)	5 (100)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
Mentioned blinding	356 (78.6)	201 (94.4)	25 (32.1)	40 (60.6)	51 (98.1)	16 (100)	0 (0)	4 (100)	3 (100)	3 (100)	11 (100)	2 (100)
Open	70	43	0	6	8	3	0	2	1	0	6	1
Single-blind	136	75	16	22	6	7	0	1	1	3	5	0
Double-blind	147	83	9	12	34	6	0	1	1	0	0	1
Not mentioned who was blinded	73	31	17	1	3	13	0	2	2	3	0	1
Adequate blinding	210 (46.4)	127 (59.6)	8 (10.3)	33 (50.0)	37 (71.2)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	5 (45.5)	0 (0)

∗Two records reported that allocation is not concealed (ACTRN12612000032853, ACTRN12609000698279).