Toward a definition of the standards for research in acupuncture: The Bologna International Symposium

Autor: Paolo Roberti di Sarsina, Alice Fauci, Alessandra Poini, Mariateresa Tassinari, Giuseppina M. Farella, Umberto Mazzanti, Mauro Devecchi, Alessio Lilli, Maria Letizia Barbanera, Carlo Maria Giovanardi
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: European Journal of Integrative Medicine. 7:429-431
ISSN: 1876-3820
DOI: 10.1016/j.eujim.2015.07.028
Popis: Though each European country has a different regulatory status for acupuncture and also varies in the level of integrative provision, the available data on acupuncture prevalence across Europe suggests that it is widely used within both public and private health facilities. This may represent an important opportunity for healthcare systems’ to develop and promote person-centered medicine, as advocated by the WHO. However, there remain some criticisms within the scientific communities over acupuncture integration into the healthcare systems, mainly deriving from the lack of high quality studies that can prevent definitive conclusions on the effectiveness of acupuncture. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to debate some of the specific methodological issues in order to improve the acquisition of evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments and to improve the standards of research in acupuncture with particular reference to: understanding mechanisms of action for guaranteeing specificity of care; designing RCTs based on clinical questions, comparing acupuncture with usual care and not sham; conducting rigorous meta-analysis based on clinical issues rather than mixed low quality studies. Besides research methodology issues, any discussion on the integration acupuncture into healthcare systems should take into consideration its potential role and benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness, and tackle the crucial issues of regulation and qualifications for professional training. All these issues will be debated during the International Symposium on Research in Acupuncture that will be held in Bologna on October 3, 2015 with the final aim of drafting a position paper to be proposed to the scientific committee for defining the standards for research in acupuncture, which is a necessary condition for its integration into the healthcare systems.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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