Stimulated by three review papers appearing on PubMed in the last week of 2019.[1–3] Photo by Elijah Hail on Unsplash. This time of year is ripe with reviews… usually the past year on broadcast media rather than research reviews, as I have chosen here. They are all quite different and I aim to highlight different aspects in each … Continue reading A review or three from 2019
Stimulated by Gao et al 2019.[1] Photo by The Honest Company on Unsplash.Well this little chap looks a little oriental to me, so as all the trials in the highlighted SR were performed in China, he seemed most appropriate. Much as I would have liked to let this one slide by unannounced, I feel obliged … Continue reading Acupuncture versus clomiphene controversy
Stimulated by Moon et al 2019.[1] Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash. I found this image when searching for pregnancy and Korea on Unsplash. I suspect that these women are not actually pregnant, but I strongly suspect that they are Korean, since the photographer is from South Korea herself. This blog is about a retrospective … Continue reading Safety of AT in pregnancy
Stimulated by Kazis et al 2019.[1] Photo by Aiony Haust on Unsplash.This photo was chosen to represent opioids being used on back pain because the first naturally occurring opioids were discovered in a flower. Yes, it is a shame (for my purposes here) that this artistic photographer did not use poppies :-). I am sure … Continue reading Initial healthcare provider and opioid use in LBP?
Stimulated by Lin et al 2019.[1] Photo by Robina on Unsplash. Not more adverse event reports I hear you cry! No, this paper is very different, and again unexpected, despite actually being rather similar to the previous one I highlighted (sorry to be cryptic). It was just last week that I was musing at the … Continue reading Post-acupuncture pneumothorax incidence
Stimulated by Han et al 2019.[1] Photo by Hisu Lee on Unsplash.Chosen because this Korean woman will certainly get neck painif she reads like this for any significant length of time 😉 I was very pleased to see this huge (n>100 000) retrospective cohort study publish online yesterday in Acupuncture in Medicine. I have commented … Continue reading Can acupuncture prevent neck surgery
Inspired by Witt et al Clin J Pain 2019.[1] Photo by MC, taken at Kew Gardens Temperate House. This paper is clearly important to consider, despite the limited conclusion of the abstract, since it comes from the ATC (Acupuncture Trialists Collaboration) and involves further analysis of the largest dataset available in the field of acupuncture … Continue reading Do patient characteristics affect acupuncture treatment outcomes?
Inspired by Chen et al J Affect Disord 2019.[1] Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash. The massive Taiwanese National Health Database strikes again! This time it was used to find new cases of depression between 1997 and 2010. The team found just over 55k cases. Of these, 13 823 received acupuncture treatment, and they were … Continue reading Depression stroke risk and acupuncture
Inspired by Shih C-C et al QJM 2019.[1] Immortal Bridge, Mount Tai, ChinaPhoto by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PfctdayeliseSky edit by MC – sky from sunset over South Island New Zealand This paper struck me as interesting because of its size, its overlap with previous topics on the blog (VCIND, CHD in RA), but most of all because it … Continue reading Immortal time bias
Inspired by Wu et al. BMC Complement Altern Med 2018.[1] The title of this paper is rather eye-catching for the Western medic: Acupuncture decreased the risk of coronary heart disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Taiwan… Really? Are you suggesting that acupuncture is the next statin? Surely not! Well, let me start by saying … Continue reading CHD incidence in RA and acupuncture
