Standards for Reporting Interventions
in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture:
The STRICTA Recommendations

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
Send all comments or additions to:    Frankp@chiro.org

FROM:   Acupuncture in Medicine 2002 (Mar); 20 (1): 22-25

FULL TEXT Adobe Acrobat (27 KB)

Hugh MacPherson, Adrian White, Mike Cummings, Kim Jobst,
Ken Rose, Richard Niemtzow, for the STRICTA Group

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Acupuncture treatment and control group interventions in parallel-group randomised trials of acupuncture are not always precisely reported. In an attempt to improve standards, an international group of experienced acupuncturists and researchers devised a set of recommendations, designating them STRICTA: STandards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture.

In a further consensus-building round, the editors of several journals helped redraft the recommendations. These follow the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) format, acting as an extension of the CONSORT guidelines for the specific requirements of acupuncture studies.

Participating journal editors are publishing the STRICTA recommendations and requesting prospective authors to adhere to them when preparing reports for publication. Other journals are invited to adopt these recommendations. The intended outcome is that interventions in controlled trials of acupuncture will be more adequately reported, thereby facilitating an improvement in critical appraisal, analysis and replication of trials.

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