Levels of Evidence for Human Studies of Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

Changes to This Summary (01/15/2019)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Strength of Study Design

Added text to state that a designation “s” is given to acupuncture studies where the patient is blinded when using a sham control.

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Databasepages.

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