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NCT02589938 · OUTCOME

Xerostomia Questionnaire Scores

Trial of Acupuncture for Radiation-Induced Xerostomia in Head and Neck Cancer · Source last updated 2026-02-27

Results reported by the registry submitting party. Population, time horizon, units and missing values must be read together.

Measure
LEAST_SQUARES_MEAN
Unit
score on a scale 0-80
Interval / dispersion
95% Confidence Interval
Time frame
Baseline to 4, 8, 12, 26 weeks post acupuncture

What was measured

Self reported Xerostomia questionnaire consists of eight items (scored on an 11-point scale; 0-10), has been validated in several cohorts, and is regarded as the gold-standard measure for xerostomia.The questions are equally divided into 4 items about oral dryness while eating or chewing and 4 items about dryness while not eating or chewing. Item scores are summed and transformed linearly to produce a final summary score between 0 and 80. Higher scores represent more xerostomia. Questionnaire is completed prior to randomization and at each time point week 4, week 8, week 12, and end of study.

Analysis population: Intent to treat analysis. Considered and utilized all data available at each timepoint.

Groups in this outcome

Standard Oral Hygiene

All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. Standard Oral Hygiene: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care.

Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture

All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. The True acupuncture points will be at 3 sites on each ear, a site on the chin, on each forearm, a site on each hand, a site on each leg, and one placebo needle for a total of 14 sites. All sites will be applied for 20 minutes. Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care. 14 true acupoint sites will be selected and applied to each participant for 20 minutes at each session. There will be 2 sessions a week for 8 weeks.

Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture

All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. The Sham acupuncture points will be given according to the same schedule as the active acupuncture points, except the Sham needles will be placed below, above or between true active points. Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care. 14 sham acupoint sites will be selected and applied to each participant for 20 minutes at each session. There will be 2 sessions a week for 8 weeks.

Group identifiers and denominators belong to this outcome only. They may differ in another outcome or in safety reporting.

Analysis denominator · Participants

GroupSource count
Standard Oral Hygiene86
Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture86
Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture86

Reported measurements

Week 4
Values in score on a scale 0-80 · Interval/dispersion: 95% Confidence Interval
GroupValueSpreadLowerUpperComment
Standard Oral Hygiene57.3Not reported54.060.6Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture50.6Not reported47.753.5Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture55.0Not reported52.058.0Not reported
Week 8
Values in score on a scale 0-80 · Interval/dispersion: 95% Confidence Interval
GroupValueSpreadLowerUpperComment
Standard Oral Hygiene55.2Not reported51.359.1Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture48.3Not reported45.352.3Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture51.2Not reported47.654.8Not reported
Week 12
Values in score on a scale 0-80 · Interval/dispersion: 95% Confidence Interval
GroupValueSpreadLowerUpperComment
Standard Oral Hygiene54.8Not reported50.958.8Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture48.9Not reported45.352.6Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture49.9Not reported46.253.7Not reported
Week 26
Values in score on a scale 0-80 · Interval/dispersion: 95% Confidence Interval
GroupValueSpreadLowerUpperComment
Standard Oral Hygiene54.4Not reported50.458.4Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture49.2Not reported45.552.9Not reported
Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture47.4Not reported43.651.2Not reported

Source statistical analyses

Group order, estimate direction, methods and comments are retained. No treatment ranking is inferred.

  1. group Description
    The primary endpoint was to determine whether true acupuncture (TA) was more effective than sham acupuncture (SA) or standard oral hygiene (SOH) at treating xerostomia as assessed by the xerostomia questionnaire (XQ) at Week 4. The study was powered to detect a difference of 10 points with an assumed standard deviation (SD)=16 between each pair of groups on XQ.This assumed a t-test with a two-sided significance level of 0·0133 and 84% power with 20% dropout.
    group Ids
    1. OG000
    2. OG001
    3. OG002
    non Inferiority Comment
    Repeated measures analysis of covariance (RMANCOVA) models were constructed to assess differences in each outcome adjusting for baseline outcome value, group, time, and group by time interaction assuming an unstructured covariance. The primary objective was assessed using a linear contrast of group effect at 4 weeks
    non Inferiority Type
    SUPERIORITY
    p Value
    0.0167
    statistical Method
    ANCOVA
Complete source fields
analyses
  1. group Description
    The primary endpoint was to determine whether true acupuncture (TA) was more effective than sham acupuncture (SA) or standard oral hygiene (SOH) at treating xerostomia as assessed by the xerostomia questionnaire (XQ) at Week 4. The study was powered to detect a difference of 10 points with an assumed standard deviation (SD)=16 between each pair of groups on XQ.This assumed a t-test with a two-sided significance level of 0·0133 and 84% power with 20% dropout.
    group Ids
    1. OG000
    2. OG001
    3. OG002
    non Inferiority Comment
    Repeated measures analysis of covariance (RMANCOVA) models were constructed to assess differences in each outcome adjusting for baseline outcome value, group, time, and group by time interaction assuming an unstructured covariance. The primary objective was assessed using a linear contrast of group effect at 4 weeks
    non Inferiority Type
    SUPERIORITY
    p Value
    0.0167
    statistical Method
    ANCOVA
classes
  1. categories
    1. measurements
      1. group Id
        OG000
        lower Limit
        54.0
        upper Limit
        60.6
        value
        57.3
      2. group Id
        OG001
        lower Limit
        47.7
        upper Limit
        53.5
        value
        50.6
      3. group Id
        OG002
        lower Limit
        52.0
        upper Limit
        58.0
        value
        55.0
    title
    Week 4
  2. categories
    1. measurements
      1. group Id
        OG000
        lower Limit
        51.3
        upper Limit
        59.1
        value
        55.2
      2. group Id
        OG001
        lower Limit
        45.3
        upper Limit
        52.3
        value
        48.3
      3. group Id
        OG002
        lower Limit
        47.6
        upper Limit
        54.8
        value
        51.2
    title
    Week 8
  3. categories
    1. measurements
      1. group Id
        OG000
        lower Limit
        50.9
        upper Limit
        58.8
        value
        54.8
      2. group Id
        OG001
        lower Limit
        45.3
        upper Limit
        52.6
        value
        48.9
      3. group Id
        OG002
        lower Limit
        46.2
        upper Limit
        53.7
        value
        49.9
    title
    Week 12
  4. categories
    1. measurements
      1. group Id
        OG000
        lower Limit
        50.4
        upper Limit
        58.4
        value
        54.4
      2. group Id
        OG001
        lower Limit
        45.5
        upper Limit
        52.9
        value
        49.2
      3. group Id
        OG002
        lower Limit
        43.6
        upper Limit
        51.2
        value
        47.4
    title
    Week 26
denoms
  1. counts
    1. group Id
      OG000
      value
      86
    2. group Id
      OG001
      value
      86
    3. group Id
      OG002
      value
      86
    units
    Participants
description
Self reported Xerostomia questionnaire consists of eight items (scored on an 11-point scale; 0-10), has been validated in several cohorts, and is regarded as the gold-standard measure for xerostomia.The questions are equally divided into 4 items about oral dryness while eating or chewing and 4 items about dryness while not eating or chewing. Item scores are summed and transformed linearly to produce a final summary score between 0 and 80. Higher scores represent more xerostomia. Questionnaire is completed prior to randomization and at each time point week 4, week 8, week 12, and end of study.
dispersion Type
95% Confidence Interval
groups
  1. description
    All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. Standard Oral Hygiene: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care.
    id
    OG000
    title
    Standard Oral Hygiene
  2. description
    All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. The True acupuncture points will be at 3 sites on each ear, a site on the chin, on each forearm, a site on each hand, a site on each leg, and one placebo needle for a total of 14 sites. All sites will be applied for 20 minutes. Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care. 14 true acupoint sites will be selected and applied to each participant for 20 minutes at each session. There will be 2 sessions a week for 8 weeks.
    id
    OG001
    title
    Standard Oral Hygiene + True Acupuncture
  3. description
    All patients will receive standard oral hygiene patient teaching information that includes instructions regarding mouth rinses, use of lip balms, use of mild fluoride toothpaste, the importance of adequate oral hydration, and other standard advice. Each participating site determines the standard oral hygiene recommendations used at their site. The Sham acupuncture points will be given according to the same schedule as the active acupuncture points, except the Sham needles will be placed below, above or between true active points. Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture: Oral hygiene care provided per individual institutions standard of care. 14 sham acupoint sites will be selected and applied to each participant for 20 minutes at each session. There will be 2 sessions a week for 8 weeks.
    id
    OG002
    title
    Standard Oral Hygiene + Sham Acupuncture
param Type
LEAST_SQUARES_MEAN
population Description
Intent to treat analysis. Considered and utilized all data available at each timepoint.
reporting Status
POSTED
time Frame
Baseline to 4, 8, 12, 26 weeks post acupuncture
title
Xerostomia Questionnaire Scores
type
PRIMARY
unit Of Measure
score on a scale 0-80

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Preserved source evidence · Not medical advice