[Current situation and prospects of scale application in acupuncture research in China]

In recent years, the standardized scales have been increasingly adopted for acupuncture researches, making leaps in both quality and quantity. By analyzing the current situation of scale application in acupuncture researches in the past five years, the present paper points out the major problems at present, including inadequate use of the scale, insufficiency of the scale in reflecting the advantages and characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion as well as lack of confirmatory test of reliability and validity of the scales, and probes into the future study thinking.