Acupuncture Is All Placebo and Here Is Why

McGeeney, Brian E.

doi:10.1111/head.12524

Cited by 23 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Traditional theories underlying acupuncture are scientifically questionable; therefore, many sceptics consider acupuncture a placebo only (e.g. McGeeney 2015). On the other hand, there are both physiological concepts and experimental evidence that acupuncture has ‘specific’ effects beyond the traditional concepts (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache

Linde

Allais

Brinkhaus

et al. 2016

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

143

135

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Background Acupuncture is often used for prevention of tension-type headache but its effectiveness is still controversial. This is an update of our Cochrane review originally published in Issue 1, 2009 of The Cochrane Library. Objectives To investigate whether acupuncture is a) more effective than no prophylactic treatment/routine care only; b) more effective than ‘sham’ (placebo) acupuncture; and c) as effective as other interventions in reducing headache frequency in adults with episodic or chronic tension-type headache. Search methods We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and AMED to 19 January 2016. We searched the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to 10 February 2016 for ongoing and unpublished trials. Selection criteria We included randomised trials with a post-randomisation observation period of at least eight weeks, which compared the clinical effects of an acupuncture intervention with a control (treatment of acute headaches only or routine care), a sham acupuncture intervention or another prophylactic intervention in adults with episodic or chronic tension-type headache. Data collection and analysis Two review authors checked eligibility; extracted information on participants, interventions, methods and results; and assessed study risk of bias and the quality of the acupuncture intervention. The main efficacy outcome measure was response (at least 50% reduction of headache frequency) after completion of treatment (three to four months after randomisation). To assess safety/acceptability we extracted the number of participants dropping out due to adverse effects and the number of participants reporting adverse effects. We assessed the quality of the evidence using GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). Main results Twelve trials (11 included in the previous version and one newly identified) with 2349 participants (median 56, range 10 to 1265) met the inclusion criteria. Acupuncture was compared with routine care or treatment of acute headaches only in two large trials (1265 and 207 participants), but they had quite different baseline headache frequency and management in the control groups. Neither trial was blinded but trial quality was otherwise high (low risk of bias). While effect size estimates of the two trials differed considerably, the proportion of participants experiencing at least 50% reduction of headache frequency was much higher in groups receiving acupuncture than in control groups (moderate quality evidence; trial 1: 302/629 (48%) versus 121/636 (19%); risk ratio (RR) 2.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1 to 3.0; trial 2: 60/132 (45%) versus 3/75 (4%); RR 11; 95% CI 3.7 to 35). Long-term effects (beyond four months) were not investigated. Acupuncture was compared with sham acupuncture in seven trials of moderate to high quality (low risk of bias); five large studies provided data for one or more meta-analyses. Among participants receiving acupuncture, 205 of 391 (51%) had at least 50% reduction of ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acupuncture for the prevention of tension-type headache

Linde

Allais

Brinkhaus

et al. 2016

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

143

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite acupuncture’s widespread use its effectiveness is still discussed controversially (Da Silva 2015, McGeeney 2015). Since the publication of the previous version of our Cochrane review (Linde 2009) a number of new trials have been published.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acupuncture for the prevention of episodic migraine

Linde

Allais

Brinkhaus

et al. 2016

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

209

217

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“…The idea was to have an issue in which we had a review article by Dr. Arnaldo Da Silva, an article on how skilled headache clinicians view and use acupuncture by Drs. Roger Cady and Kathy Farmer, a literature review of meta‐analyses by Dr. Remy Coeytaux, and a skeptical view of acupuncture by Dr. Brian McGeeney …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%