Adverse effects of acupuncture: a study of the literature for the years 1981-1994

CRD COMMENTARY: The author has stated the research question but no inclusion criteria for the review. The literature search is poor because the author has searched only the MEDLINE database which may have missed relevant studies published outside the USA. The author has not reported on how the articles were selected, or how the quality of the included studies was assessed and there is no report as to who, or how many reviewers, selected the articles or extracted the data. The studies are not statistically combined which was appropriate. However, the included studies have no controls so the determination of causality for the adverse events is questionable. The authors also do not report any data on the type of patients included, the types of acupuncture used in each case, and why that acupuncture treatment was used. The author's conclusions should therefore be viewed with caution.