Assessment of Reporting Quality in Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture for Primary Insomnia with CONSORT Statement and STRICTA Guidelines

Table 2

Assessment of reporting quality of needling details from STRICTA (n = 102 studies).

Criteria	Item	Description	Number of positive trials	%	Cohen’s к coefficient	95% CI
Acupuncture rationale	1a	Style of acupuncture	102	100	1.00	1.00
	1b	Reasons for acupuncture treatment	84	82.35	0.87	0.75 to 1.62
	1c	Explanation of changes was caused by what treatment	27	26.47	1.00	1.00
Needling details	2a	Number of needles insertions per session	100	98.03	0.66	0.04 to 1.28
	2b	Acupoint names (or location in case of nonchannel points) (unilateral or bilateral)	62	60.78	0.90	0.82 to 0.98
	2c	Depth of insertion	71	69.61	0.98	0.93 to 1.03
	2d	Responses sought (arrival of Qi)	69	67.65	0.91	0.83 to 0.99
	2e	Needle stimulation (e.g., manual or electrical)	94	92.16	0.83	0.64 to 1.02
	2f	Needle retention time	99	97.06	1.00	1.00
	2g	Needle type (diameter, length, and manufacturer or material)	65	63.73	0.92	0.85 to 0.99
Treatment regimen	3a	Number of treatment sessions	102	100	1.00	1.00
	3b	Frequency and duration of treatment sessions	102	100	1.00	1.00
Other components of treatment	4a	Complementary interventions for the acupuncture group (e.g., moxibustion, cupping, exercises, and lifestyle advice)	30	29.41	0.95	0.88 to 1.02
	4b	Setting and context of treatment, including instructions to practitioners and information and explanations to patients	11	10.78	0.79	0.61 to 0.97
Practitioner background	5	Description of practitioners	18	17.65	0.94	0.86 to 1.02
Control interventions	6a	Rationale for the control or comparator in the context of the research question, with sources that justify the choice(s)	33	32.35	0.87	0.77 to 0.97
	6b	Precise description of the control or comparator intervention	101	99.02	1.00	1.00