Journal of Acupuncture Research

Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine Society (대한침구의학회)
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An Analysis of Clinical Trials for Understanding and Application of Pragmatic Clinical Trial

실용적 임상연구에 대한 이해와 적용을 위한 연구 사례 분석

  • Yun, Young-Ju (Acupuncture Moxibustion & Meridian Research Center, Standard Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) ;
  • Kang, Kyung-Won (Acupuncture Moxibustion & Meridian Research Center, Standard Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine) ;
  • Choi, Sun-Mi (Acupuncture Moxibustion & Meridian Research Center, Standard Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine)
  • 윤영주 (한국한의학연구원 표준화연구본부 침구경락연구센터) ;
  • 강경원 (한국한의학연구원 표준화연구본부 침구경락연구센터) ;
  • 최선미 (한국한의학연구원 표준화연구본부 침구경락연구센터)
  • Published : 2009.10.20
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Abstract

The use of acupuncutre has been increased worldwide, and large number of researches on acupuncture with improved quality has been conducted. Nevertheless, results of acupuncture treatment in those research tend to show mixed results, while many patients continuously seek acupuncture treatment as an adjuvant or alternatives for their health. Researchers and clinicians relevant to acupuncture are faced at this problematic discrepancy between the results of acupuncture in clinical trial including an randomized controlled trial and those of day-to-day clinical practice. The methodology of pragmatic clinical trial seems to be one of the promising research tools administering this problem especially in the area of complementary alternative medicine and traditional Korean medicine. In this study we first reviewed articles on the pragmatic clinical trial, summarized the essential concepts of 'explanatory' clinical trial 'pragmatic' clinical trial and then presented recent recommendations and arguments on this issue. We also analyzed and compared two similar pragmatic clinical trial protocols to show the readers the complexity of research designing. We hope more researchers in traditional Korean medicine will be interested in the methodology of pragmatic clinical trials and this study will serve to produce various high-quality clinical trials.

Keywords

References

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