Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Acupoints Stimulation for Anxiety and Depression in Cancer Patients: A Quantitative Synthesis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 2

Methodological and quality assessment of included trials.
CriteriaS1S2S3S4S5S6S7S8S9S10S11
(1) “Was the method of randomization adequate?”✓✓✓✓✓?✓✓✓✓?
(2) “Was the treatment allocation concealed?”✗✓?✓??✓✓✓??
(3) “Was the patient blinded to the intervention?”✓✓?✓✓??✗✗??
(4) “Was the care provider blinded to the intervention?”✗✗?✗✗??✗✗??
(5) “Was the outcome assessor blinded to the intervention?”✓✓?✓✓??✗✗??
(6) “Was the drop-out rate described and acceptable?”✓✓✓✓ ✓✓✗✓✓✓✓
(7) “Were all randomized participants analyzed in the group to which they were allocated?”✓✓✓✓✓✓✗✗✗✓✓
(8) “Are reports of the study free of suggestion of selective outcome reporting?”✓✓✓✓✓?✓✓✓✓✓
(9) “Were the groups similar at baseline regarding the most important prognostic indicators?”✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
(10) “Were co-interventions avoided or similar?”✓✓?✓??✓??✓ ?
(11) Was the compliance acceptable in all groups????✓✓?✓✓✓??
(12) “Was the timing of the outcome assessment similar in all groups?”✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓
(13) “Are other sources of potential bias unlikely?”???????????
Based on [37].
S: study, ✓: low risk of bias; ✗: high risk of bias; ?: unclear risk of bias.