A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Acupuncture Treatment for Oral Ulcer

Table 3

GRADE evidence quality of outcomes included in the literature.

Certainty assessment								Effects		Quality
Outcomes	No. of studies	Design	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Other considerations	Relative (95% CI)	Absolute (95% CI)
The effective rate	17	RCT	Serious^a	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	Publication bias^d	OR 5.03 (3.56 to 7.11)	196 per 1,000 (from 171 to 215)	⊕⊕○○ low
The ulcer recurrence rate	6	RCT	Serious^a	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	Serious^b	None	OR 0.24 (0.17 to 0.35)	339 fewer per 1,000 (from 403 fewer to 257 fewer)	⊕⊕○○ low
Visual analogue score	5	RCT	Serious^a	Serious^c	No serious indirectness	Serious^b	None	—	MD 1.79 SD lower (2.25 lower to 1.33 lower)	⊕○○○ very low
The ulcer healing time	4	RCT	Serious^a	Serious^c	No serious indirectness	Serious^b	None	—	MD 1.02 SD lower (2.97 lower to 0.94 higher)	⊕○○○ very low

Explanations. (a) Some study randomization methods, allocation concealment, and blinding are not described. (b) Fewer included articles and observers. (c) Heterogeneity is significantly higher. (d) Publication bias.