The CACTUS Study is a randomised pragmatic trial with a nested qualitative study comparing traditional acupuncture with usual care in people who consult frequently with medically unexplained symptoms.1 2 Margaret McCartney has based her Observations article about it on several inaccuracies (quotations from her article in italics below).3(1) The “wellbeing score” was better in the control group than in the acupuncture group. This statement is untrue: an adjusted mean difference in favour of acupuncture was seen with wellbeing (wellbeing questionnaire, W-BQ12: 4.4 (1.6 to 7.2); P=0.002). This difference remained significant after missing values were imputed (3.4 (0.5 to 6.3); P=0.02).(2) The graphical …