Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Lateral Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Table 3

GRADE analyses: acupuncture treatment for lateral epicondylitis.

Primary and secondary outcomes	No. of study (subjects)	Risk of bias	Inconsistence	Indirectness	Imprecision	Publication bias	Overall quality of evidence^a
Clinical efficacy rate	8 (701)	No	Serious^b	No	No	No	+/+/+/−/; moderate
VAS	6 (368)	No	Serious^b	No	Serious^c	No	+/+/−/−/; low

GRADE = Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation; VAS = visual analogue scale. ^aGRADE working group grades of evidence: high quality = further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect; moderate quality = further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate; low quality = further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate; very low quality = we are very uncertain about the estimate. ^bMeta-analytic results presented a serious inconsistency when I² values were greater than 20% in the Q statistics. ^CMeta-analytic results presented a serious imprecision when 95% CI = effect size in the Q statistics.