REporting Guidelines for aCupuncture-Related AdverSe Event Case Reports (RECASE): Elaboration and Explanation

Case reports represent the earliest form of scientific literature to identify and describe adverse events (AEs) associated with medical interventions, and they still represent important educational resources for ensuring the safe practice of such interventions. Although case reports on AEs related to acupuncture continue to be published, detailed information about the acupuncture procedure is often insufficiently reported in these studies, which may introduce an overstatement or exaggeration of the harm of acupuncture. Consequently, these reports fall short of evaluating causality and achieving the educational purpose of preventing future AEs. To help address these limitations, we developed the "REporting guidelines for aCupuncture-related AdverSe Event case reports" (RECASE) based on the CARE (CAse REports) reporting guidelines for case reports using the expert Delphi methodology. This guideline contains essential items for case reports on acupuncture-related AEs. We anticipate that this reporting guideline will encourage greater transparency, fairness, and comprehensiveness in future case reports on acupuncture-related AEs.