ObjectivesEchinococcosis is one of the 10 most economically burdened diseases recognized by WHO in the world, and China has the highest prevalence of echinococcosis. Thus, the present study was conducted to systematically review the economic burden of echinococcosis in Chinese population.MethodsDatabases including Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP were electronically searched from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2018 to collect studies on the economic burden of echinococcosis in China. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias of included studies. Excel 2013 software was used for data entry and statistical analysis.ResultsA total of 27 studies were included. The analysis showed that the average cost of echinococcosis was approximately 21 201.85 yuan. The average cost of cystic echinococcosis was approximately 13 817.21 yuan. The average cost of alveolar echinococcosis was approximately 39 880.72 yuan. The average hospitalization cost of echinococcosis generally tended to rise from 2008 to 2018. The average age of patients ranged from 8.6 to 59.21 years, with the average length of stay in hospital was 17.12 days. Many of the included studies showed that patients’ age, length of hospital stay, medical insurance, and therapeutic outcomes have an impact on the economic burden of echinococcosis.ConclusionsThe average hospitalization cost of patients with echinococcosis in China is high and shows an upward trend. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.
Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder in clinical practice. Due to its long-term natural history, FD significantly impacts patients' quality of life and imposes a heavy social burden. Existing evidence suggests that acupuncture can effectively alleviate FD symptoms and is safe for treatment. However, current studies still face fragmented evidence regarding acupoint combinations, standardized procedures, and subtype interventions. Moreover, the existing clinical guidelines for FD do not provide specific recommendations on acupuncture treatment. To address the series of clinical issues faced by acupuncture in treating FD and to offer a scientific and standardized clinical protocol for acupuncture in FD treatment, the establishment of the "Clinical Practice Guidelines for Acupuncture Treatment of Functional Dyspepsia" was initiated by the Wangjing Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. This protocol systematically introduces the background, basic steps, working group members and their responsibilities, scope of application, the collection and determination of clinical issues and outcome indicators, evidence retrieval and evaluation methods, formulation of recommendations, external review and approval of recommendations, release and updating of the final draft, and the processes of promotion and implementation.