Study on key problems in the positive control design methods of acupuncture and moxibustion
Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2009 Apr;29(4):321-4.
[Article in Chinese]
Department of Acup-Moxibustion and Tuina, Gansu College of TCM, Lanzhou 730000, China.
To probe into the design method of the clinical studies with positive control of acupuncture and moxibustion, the several key problems are analyzed, which include the definition of positive control, form of the control, statistical and design types, proper application of positive drugs, and properly use placebo control method to counteract weaknesses of studies, reasonably select observation indexes so as to show characteristics of Chinese medicine. The authors indicate that only fully thinking these key problems, can provide clinical evidence of acupuncture and moxibustion with high quality and convincingness.
