Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomised controlled trials. The lengths of treatment, where stated, varied from 2 weeks to 4 months.
Specific interventions included in the review
Acupuncture. The actual treatments included formula acupuncture and electro-acupuncture. One study used electro-acupuncture with moxibusion.
Participants included in the review
Patients with OA at various sites including cervical, knee, trapezio-metacarpal, and the large joints. No other details of the participants were provided.
Outcomes assessed in the review
A range of end points were assessed in the included studies. These included tenderness, pain (subjective report, or assessed by VAS), analgesic use and other symptoms.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The author does not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many of the reviewers performed the selection.