The June issue of the BJGP has a paper, ‘Acupuncture for “frequent attenders” with medically unexplained symptoms: a randomised controlled trial (CACTUS study)’.1 It has lots of numbers, but the result is very easy to see. Just look at Figure 2 (omitted from the print version, online only).1
There is no need to wade through all the statistics; it's perfectly obvious at a glance that acupuncture has, at best, a tiny and erratic effect on any of the outcomes that were measured. The effects, even if some …