I had commented on that well-publicized recent study of acupuncture for migraines:
> To evaluate placebo, we need a no-treatment control group for > comparison, something that many placebo controlled studies don't > have. Let us know when you get your hands on the study, David. Now that David has come through with the study, I can answer my own question. There was none. The study found that fake acupuncture, real acupuncture, and rather modest (as David pointed out) "standard therapy" were not statistically different in terms of their effect on migraine attacks. So did the authors honestly conclude that they had failed to show that acupuncture works? Hell, no. They instead concluded in their paper that "the most important result is that all three treatments were effective", which was trumpeted in the press as "Acupuncture works for migraine". Their only evidence that it worked was that the number of migraine days during a four week period before randomization (approx 1 per week) was about 50% greater than at the end of treatment, 22-26 weeks later. This carries the implicit assumption that the frequency of migraines remains stable over the next six months. Maybe, maybe not. In the absence of their experimental group showing superiority over their placebo group, what they need to declare that _all_ groups were effective is a no-treatment group which did worse. Having none, their positive spin on the experiment is merely hot air. It's just as plausible that rather than all of the treatments working, none of them did. Stephen Diener, H. and a whole bunch of others. (2006). Efficacy of acupuncture for the prophylaxis of migraine, yada, yada.Tthe Lancet Neurology, on-line March 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
