The Nonpenetrating Telescopic Sham Needle may Blind Patients with Different Characteristics and Experiences when Treated by several Therapists.

Background. Little is known which factors influence the blinding in acupuncture studies. Aim. To investigate if blinding variedbetween patients with different characteristics receiving verum or sham acupuncture. Methods. We randomised cancer patientsto verum (n = 109) or sham acupuncture (n = 106) with a nonpenetrating telescopic sham needle for nausea. Level of blindingwas compared between different sub-groups of patients using Bang’s blinding index (BI) ranged −1 to 1 (−1 = all state theopposite treatment, 1 = all identify treatment). Results. Most patients in the verum (74 of 95; 78%, BI 0.72) and the sham (68 of95; 72%, BI −0.60). acupuncture group believed they had received verum acupuncture. The probability for a patient to believehe/she received verum acupuncture was related to the received needling type (P = .003) and to the patient’s belief in receivedtreatment effects (P = .008). Hospital (P = .425), therapist (P = .434), previous acupuncture experience (P = .578), occurrenceof nausea (P = .157), gender (P = .760), and age (P = .357) did not affect blinding. Conclusions. Blinding was successfullyachieved irrespective of age, gender, acupuncture experience, treatment effect, or in which hospital or by which therapist thepatient received treatment. Patients with higher belief in the effect of the treatment were more likely to believe they had receivedverum acupuncture.Original Publication:Anna Enblom, Anna Johnsson, Mats Hammar, Gunnar Steineck and Sussanne Börjeson, The Nonpenetrating Telescopic Sham Needle may Blind Patients with Different Characteristics and Experiences when Treated by several Therapists., 2011, Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, (), , 1-12.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/185034Licensee: Hindawi Publishing Corporation / Oxford University Press (OUP)http://www.hindawi.com