• 1. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, P. R. China;
  • 2. Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, P. R. China;
CHEN lixia, Email: chenxlsums@126.com
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Objective To evaluate the quality of randomized controlled trials (RCT) of Chinese medicine (TCM) formulated granules published in core journals in China. Methods Computerized searches were conducted in CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data and CBM databases. The publicly published RCT of TCM formulated granules were collected, with source from Peking University Core, CSSCI and EI. The following information was extracted: including title, the first author, the journals name, type of disease, year of publication, and source of drug. The included studies were evaluated using the CONSORT extension for CHM formulas (CONSORT-CHM formulas 2017), which included 25 items from title, abstract and keywords, introduction, research methods, steps, results, discussion, and other information. Results A total of 125 papers were included, which mainly included digestive system diseases (n=25), respiratory system diseases (n=17), and circulatory system diseases (n=17). The results showed that the overall reporting quality of RCT of TCM formulated granules was poor. After the publication of the CONSORT–CHM formulas 2017, the reporting quality of RCT of TCM formulated granules had no significant changes some items were still reported with poor quality. For example, 42.2% of RCT did not adequately report how to generate allocation sequence, 93.3% of RCT did not adequately report allocation concealment, and 62.2% of RCT did not adequately report how to solve the missing data. Conclusion The quality of RCT reports on traditional Chinese medicine formula granules published in Chinese journals still needs to be improved. It is recommended that researchers, journals and reviewers attach importance to the application of CONSORT-CHM formula throughout the whole process of paper writing. In the future, more scientific and detailed requirements should be put forward for trial design and reporting standards in line with the characteristics of clinical trials of traditional Chinese medicine formula granules.

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