Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Chengdu Pidu District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine/the 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (West District), No. 169, 1st Section of Zhongxin Avenue.
Department of Central Transportation Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 28, Dianxin South Road.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2021 Jan 8;100(1):e24178. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000024178.
Patients' expectation to treatment response is one source of placebo effects. A number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reported that expectation benefits to acupuncture treatment, while some did not. Previous systematic reviews failed to draw a confirmative conclusion due to the methodological heterogeneity. It is necessary to conduct a new systematic review to find out whether expectation can influence acupuncture outcomes.
We systematically search English and Chinese databases from their inception to 3rd October, 2020, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP). RCTs that evaluated the relationship between expectation and treatment response following acupuncture for adults will be included. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment will be conducted independently. Risk of bias will be assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool. Data synthesis will be performed by Review Manager (RevMan) software if the data is suitable for synthesis.
This systematic review will provide evidence that whether patients' expectation impacts on the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. This protocol will be performed and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items from Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) statement. The findings of this review will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
This systematic review aims to assess whether a higher level of patient's expectation contributes to a better outcome after acupuncture treatment, and in which medical condition this contribution will be more significant.
INPLASY2020100020 on International Platform of Registered Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols.
患者对治疗效果的期望是安慰剂效应的一个来源。一些随机对照试验（RCT）报告称，期望对针灸治疗有益，而另一些则没有。由于方法学的异质性，以前的系统评价未能得出明确的结论。有必要进行一项新的系统评价，以确定期望是否会影响针灸的效果。
我们系统地检索了英语和中文数据库，包括 MEDLINE、EMBASE、Cochrane 对照试验中心注册库（CENTRAL）、中国生物医学文献数据库（CBM）、中国知网（CNKI）和中国科技期刊数据库（VIP），从其建立到 2020 年 10 月 3 日。将纳入评估成人接受针灸治疗后期望与治疗反应之间关系的 RCT。将独立进行研究选择、数据提取和偏倚风险评估。偏倚风险将使用 Cochrane 偏倚风险评估工具进行评估。如果数据适合综合，将使用 Review Manager（RevMan）软件进行数据综合。
本系统评价将提供证据，证明患者的期望是否影响针灸的治疗效果。本方案将按照系统评价和荟萃分析方案的首选报告项目（PRISMA-P）声明进行报告和实施。本评价的结果将通过同行评议的出版物和会议报告进行传播。
本系统评价旨在评估患者更高的期望是否有助于针灸治疗后的更好效果，以及在哪些医疗条件下这种贡献更为显著。
INPLASY 注册号：INPLASY2020100020 于国际系统评价和荟萃分析注册平台。
