Table 1 Characteristics of RCTs conducted in Japan on acupuncture for patients
Decade | Number of RCTs | Language | Journal type | Condition treated | Method of stimulation | Point selection | Number of arms | Crossover trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japanese/English | domestic/international acupuncture/CAM/CWM | musculoskeletal/others | manual needling/ electroacupuncture/press tack needle /intradermal needle/others (Some data duplicated) | body acupoint /auricular point /trigger point /tender point /others (Some data duplicated) | 2/3/4/5 | yes/no | ||
1960s | 1 | 1/0 | 1/0 1/0/0 | 1/0 | 1/0/0/0/0 | 1/0/0/0/0 | 1/0/0/0 | 0/1 |
1970s | 6 | 6/0 | 6/0 6/0/0 | 5/1 | 6/0/0/0/0 | 3/0/0/0/3 | 6/0/0/0 | 0/6 |
1980s | 9 | 9/0 | 9/0 9/0/0 | 3/6 | 2/2/0/5/0 | 1/5/0/1/2 | 8/1/0/0 | 2/7 |
1990s | 5 | 5/0 | 5/0 4/0/1 | 4/1 | 3/1/0/0/0 (1 unknown: no relevant information provided) | 3/0/0/0/1 (1 unknown: no relevant information provided) | 3/0/1/1 | 1/4 |
2000s | 40 | 26/14 | 26/14 29/5/6 | 28/12 | 29/10/3/5/1 | 27/1/8/12/3 | 29/6/5/0 | 6/34 |
2010s | 47 | 34/13 | 36/11 24/16/8 | 14/33 | 36/10/5/0/0 | 35/0/4/4/14 | 35/11/1/0 | 7/40 |
Total | 108 | 81/27 | 83/25 72/21/15 | 55/53 | 77/22/8/10/1 | 70/6/12/17/23 | 82/18/7/1 | 16/92 |