SBM is a major site, so I normally wouldn't repost from it here. However; as this particular misrepresented study is going the rounds on Internet, I felt it best to include a magistral debunking by no less than Steven Novella here.
A newly published meta-analysis of studies looking at acupuncture for symptoms resulting from natural menopause (not drug or surgically induced) by Chiu et. al. is entirely negative. That is not what the authors or the press release conclude, however.
This disconnect between the study results and the interpretation of those results is a persistent problem in medicine generally to some degree, but is endemic and profound within the CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) culture. Acupuncture in particular is promoted almost entirely based on this type of misinterpretations – the kind that can magically turn negative studies into positive studies....
REad the rest here:
Acupuncture - Science-Based Medicine
