Table 1. Characteristics of included articles (n = 2447)
From: Assessment of the reporting quality of randomised controlled trials of massage
Characteristic | n (%) |
|---|---|
Languages of published journals | |
Chinese | 2368 (96.8) |
English | 79 (3.2) |
Type of published journals | |
Comprehensive medical journals | 936 (38.3) |
CAM/CM specific journals | 1288 (52.6) |
Massage specific journals | 223 (9.1) |
Grades of Chinese journals | |
Medical core journalsa (Yes) | 702 (29.6) |
Impact factor of international (English) journalsb | |
0–4 | 75 (94.9) |
5–10 | 1 (1.3) |
> 10 | 3 (3.8) |
Number of authors included | |
1 | 901 (36.8) |
2–5 | 1241 (50.7) |
6–10 | 289 (11.8) |
> 10 | 16 (0.7) |
Institution of the corresponding author | |
Hospital | 2279 (93.1) |
University | 137 (5.6) |
Research Institute | 28 (1.1) |
Others | 3 (0.1) |
Type of conditions treated (top five) | |
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system or connective tissue | 1,078 (44.1) |
Symptoms, signs or clinical findings, not elsewhere classified | 249 (10.2) |
Diseases of the nervous system | 236 (9.6) |
Pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium | 180 (7.4) |
Diseases of the digestive system | 174 (7.1) |
Studied disease(s) with CM Pattern(s) | |
Yes | 155 (6.3) |
Experimental group | |
Only massage intervention(s) | 664 (27.1) |
Other interventions administered to massage | 1783 (72.9) |
Type of blinding | |
Single | 60 (2.5) |
Double | 16 (0.7) |
Open label | 2,306 (94.2) |
Not reported | 65 (2.7) |
Number of assigned groups | |
2 | 2342 (95.7) |
3 | 80 (3.3) |
> 3 | 25 (1.0) |
Sample size | |
1–50 | 239 (9.8) |
51–100 | 1383 (56.5) |
101–300 | 764 (31.2) |
301–500 | 38 (1.6) |
> 500 | 23 (1.0) |
Trial participating centre | |
Single centre | 2388 (97.6) |
Multi-centre | 59 (2.4) |
Outcomes including CM-related indicators | |
Yes | 181 (7.4) |
Number of times cited | |
0 | 566 (23.1) |
1–5 | 1200 (49.0) |
6–10 | 339 (13.9) |
11–20 | 229 (9.4) |
> 20 | 113 (4.6) |
Ethics approval | |
Yes | 1339 (54.7) |
Declaration of conflict of interest | |
Yes | 1871 (76.5) |