Table 2

Univariable meta-regression analysis

Factors	Significance
Total number of acupuncture treatments	^√
Type of acupuncture stimulation	^√
Source of acupuncture regimen	^√
Duration of treatment_chronic	^√
Duration of treatment_acute
Education or training of practitioners	^√
Acupuncturist experience
Type of comparisons	^√
Therapeutic area	^√
Blinding of participants	^√
Longest follow-up time	^√
Missing data reported	^√
The proportion of missing data	^√
Trial registration	^√
Language of publication	^√
Type of funding	^√
Journal Impact factor	^√
Stratification or block randomisation	^√
Needle retention time(20 min)
Needling angle
Depth of insertion
Number of needles used
De qi
Patient expectation	^√
Acupuncture-specific patient-practitioner interactions
Ever received acupuncture
Location of needles
The clinical specialty of practitioners
Acupuncture manipulation after needles inserted
Needling direction
Intensity of stimulation
Acupuncture type*	^√
Acupuncture regimen*
Frequency of treatment sessions*	^√
Style of acupuncture*	^√
Type of outcome*	^√
Type of control group*	^√
The course of disease (chronic or acute)*	^√
Random sequence generation*	^√
Allocation concealment*	^√
Blinding of outcome assessors*	^√
Sample size*	^√
Number of centres*	^√
Funding available*	^√
Country*	^√
Type of Journal*	^√