The systematic review/meta-analysis database of traditional Chinese medicine (SMD-TCM) was focused on incubation and application of the secondary research achievement. At present, the establishment of front and back websites, evidence input and evaluation have been completed. In the near future, the automation of overview and the visual presentation of evidence information will be realized, which provides the technical support for integration, analysis and application of evidence in the secondary research of TCM. This paper introduces the construction of SMD-TCM database which includes: requirements of construction, design principles, working process, evidence processing, ensuring quality of data input, data analysis and application, etc.
Objective To overview the systematic reviews/meta-analyses of efficacy of FNB used as a postoperative analgesic technique among patients undergoing TKR. Methods We electronically searched databases including The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP from inception to July, 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature and extracted data. AMSTAR tool was used to assess the methodological quality of included studies. The primary outcome was pain scores and the consumption of opoid medicine to evaluate the effectiveness of FNB. Results A total of 16 systematic reviews/meta-analyses were included, involving the FNBvs. LIA, PMDI, EA, PCA and ACB, respectively. The results of quality assessment indicated medium scores with 3 to 9 scores. The overviews’ results showed that: at rest, FNB was not superior to LIA at 6h after TKR; it was superior to PMDI at 12h after TKR; it was also superior to PCA and LIA, but not superior to ACB at 24h after TKR. On movement, FNB was superior to PCA and LIA at 24h after TKR; it was also superior to PCA at 48h after TKR. As to the consumption of opoid medicine, the consumption in FNB group was more than LIA group at 12h after TKR. In addition, the consumption in FNB group was less than PCA and LIA at 24h after TKR, and it was also less than PCA and ACB at 48h. The satisfaction of patients who received FNB was better than ACB, EA and PCA. Conclusion The current overview shows that FNB is more effective than PCA and LIA, the patients’ satisfaction is better. Due to the limitations of the quantity and quality of included studies, the above conclusions are needed to be verified by more studies.
ObjectiveTo provide an overview of systematic reviews on the efficacy and safety of massage for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy.MethodsCNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and EMbase databases were electronically searched to collect the systematic reviews on the efficacy and safety of massage for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy from inception to December 30th, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened the literature and extracted the data, applied the AMSTAR2 scale to evaluate its methodological quality, and GRADE to evaluate the quality of the evidence.ResultsA total of 7 systematic reviews/meta-analysis were included. The AMSTAR2 scale evaluation showed that the quality of the included studies was extremely low. The GRADE evidence grading results showed that the quality of the VAS score outcome index of the two literatures was intermediate, and the quality of the OASCSR outcome index of one literature was intermediate. The quality of the remaining outcome indicators reported is low or very low.ConclusionThe available evidence shows that the efficacy and safety of manual treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy is acceptable, but the overall methodological quality of the systematic review is extremely low, and the quality level of evidence is generally low. The future clinical trials and systematic reviews should be strictly followed. The scientific research design of the medical science provides high-quality evidence and provides reference for clinical practice.
ObjectiveTo overview of systematic reviews (SRs) of Yiqi Fumai (YQFM) injection in the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). MethodsThe PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect SRs of YQFM injection in the treatment of CHF from January 1, 2007 to October 31, 2022. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed methodological quality, risk of bias, report quality and evidence quality by using AMSTAR-2, ROBIS scale, PRISMA, and GRADE system. ResultsA total of 7 SRs were included. The evaluation results showed that the quality of all SRs was low, a few SRs were assessed as having a low risk of bias, and all SRs were relatively completely reported. A total of 46 results were extracted from the included SRs, including 3 with moderate quality evidence, 12 with low quality evidence and 31 with very low quality evidence. ConclusionYQFM may be an effective and safe treatment, but current evidence quality is low.
Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese medicine for the treatment of angina pectoris. Methods PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2015), VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were used to evaluate the curative effect and safety of proprietary Chinese medicine in the treatment of angina pectoris. The retrieval time was up to November 2015. Two reviewers screened literatures, extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies, and then the GRADE evaluation system was used to assess the quality of evidence. Results A total of 42 systematic reviews/Meta-analysises were included in the study. There were 15 kinds of proprietary Chinese medicines, and the drugs published most were compound composite salvia. AMSTAR evaluation results showed that the quality of all studies were low. The main problems were: ① no consideration was given to the publication of the inclusion criteria (eg, gray literature); ② only the list of articles included in the study literature was not available; ③ all articles did not describe the relevant conflicts of interest. The results of GRADE systems showed that: ① as to the total effective rate: musk pills (RR=3.44, 95%CI 2.99 to 3.96,P=0.08) and suxiaojiuxin Pills (RR=4.25, 95% CI 3.31 to 5.47,P<0.01) were superior to Western medicine, and the level of evidence was very low. ② As to the ECG changes efficiency rate: Puerarin (RR=3.61, 95% CI 2.95 to 4.42,P=0.05), Musk pill (RR=2.48, 95%CI 2.12 to 2.91,P<0.01) and Shuxuening (RR=1.62, 95% CI 1.33 to1.97,P<0.01) were superior to Western medicine, and the evidence level was low. The level of evidence was low for the remaining effective rate of proprietary Chinese medicine; ③ as to the adverse reactions: the musk Baoxin pill (RR=0.05, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.37,P=0.04) was less than Western medicine, and the evidence level was low. Conclusion Although the number of systematic reviews of published proprietary Chinese medicines for angina pectoris is high, but the methodological quality and evidence level are low. There are serious defects in the low quality of the original research literature and the systematic evaluation method. We suggest future studies to improve for two aspects: ① reasonable design to reduce the selective bias, to carry out the required clinical trials to reduce the implementation bias, the implementation of multi-center, the sample size of sufficient randomized controlled clinical trials to reduce the number of patients into the group less resulting in the loss of bias, strict implementation of the standard data collection methods to reduce the occurrence of measurement bias; ② in accordance with the requirements of clinical trials to report to improve the report quality of the literature.
ObjectivesTo evaluate the quality of methodology and evidence of the exiting systematic reviews (SRs) of acupuncture therapy for post-stroke spastic paralysis.MethodsCNKI, CBM, The Cochrane Library, PubMed and EMbase databases were electronically searched to collect SRs of acupuncture therapy for post-stroke spastic paralysis from inception to December 16th, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated the quality of methodology and evidence by AMSTAR 2 scale and GRADE system.ResultsA total of 7 SRs were included. The results showed that acupuncture therapy had obvious advantages in treating post-stroke spastic paralysis without obvious adverse reactions. The results of AMSTAR 2 scale showed that the failure of key items 2 and 7 resulted in extremely low methodological quality. The results of GRADE system showed that 46.15% of which were low-level evidence quality, 42.31% were medium, 11.54% were extremely low, and no evidence quality were high.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is effective in treating spastic paralysis after stroke, however, the quality of the SRs is low. The studies are required to be standardized and combined with the characteristics of TCM to obtain high quality evidence in the future.
Objective To overview the systematic reviews about the efficacy and safety of respiratory fluoroquinolones for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods We electronically searched databases including China National Knowledge Internet, WanFang Data, VIP, PubMed, Embase and The Cochrane Library to collect systematic reviews or Meta-analyses about respiratory fluoroquinolones for CAP from inception to November 2, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literatures, extracted data, and then AMSTAR tool was used to assess the methodological quality of included studies. Results A total of 18 systematic reviews/Meta-analyses were included. The results of quality assessment indicated the scores ranged from 5 to 10. Among the 11 items, the item 1 of " Was an ‘a priori’ design provided” and item 4 " Was the status of publication (i.e. grey literature) used as an inclusion criterion” appeared to be the most problematic. The results of overview suggested that: the efficacy of respiratory fluoroquinolones might be similar to β-lactams plus macrolides combination treatment for CAP. However, respiratory fluoroquinolones might be more safety. In addition, the efficacy of respiratory fluoroquinolones sequential therapy for CAP was similar to that of continuous intravenous therapy, but the adverse reactions of the former were fewer. Conclusions Respiratory fluoroquinolones might be similar in efficacy for CAP to other antibiotics recommended by the guidelines with less adverse reactions. However, it can increase multi-drug resistance and potential tuberculosis drug resistance, we should strictly follow the principle of rational use of antibiotics to avoid abuse.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the risk of bias and reliability of conclusions of systematic reviews (SRs) of lung cancer screening. MethodsWe searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2016), Web of Knowledge, CBM, WanFang Data and CNKI to collect SRs of lung cancer screening from inception to February 29th, 2016. The ROBIS tool was applied to assess the risk of bias of included SRs, and then GRADE system was used for evidence quality assessment of outcomes of SRs. ResultsA total of 11 SRs involving 5 outcomes (mortality, detection rate, survival rate, over-diagnosis and potential benefits and harms) were included. The results of risk of bias assessment by ROBIS tool showed:Two studies completely matched the 4 questions of phase 1. In the phase 2, 6 studies were low risk of bias in the including criteria field; 8 studies were low risk of bias in the literature search and screening field; 3 studies were low risk of bias in the data abstraction and quality assessment field; and 5 studies were low risk of bias in the data synthesis field. In the phase 3 of comprehensive risk of bias results, 5 studies were low risk. The results of evidence quality assessment by GRADE system showed:three studies had A level evidence on the outcome of mortality; 1 study had A level evidence on detection; 1 study had A level evidence on survival rate; 3 studies on over-diagnosis had C level evidence; and 2 studies on potential benefits and harms had B level evidence. ConclusionThe risk of bias of SRs of lung cancer screening is totally modest; however, the evidence quality of outcomes of these SRs is totally low. Clinicians should cautiously use these evidence to make decision based on local situation.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the methodological bias and the reliability of the conclusions of systematic reviews (SRs) about traditional Chinese medicine for essential hypertension. MethodsWe comprehensively searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane library (Issue 4, 2014), CBM, CNKI and WanFang Data to collect SRs of traditional Chinese medicine for essential hypertension from the establishment time of databases to April 30th, 2014. The AMSTAR tool was applied for methodological quality assessment of included studies, and the GRADE system was applied for evidence quality assessment of included outcomes of SRs. ResultsA total of 12 SRs involving 31 outcomes were included, of which 11 SRs focused on the comparison of therapeutic effects between traditional Chinese medicine combined with western medicine and western medicine alone. Nine SRs adopted Jadad tool to assess methodological quality of included original studies. The results of assessment using AMSTAR showed that, among 11 items, there were the most problems concerning Item 1 "Was an 'a prior' design provided?" (none of the 12 SRs provided it); followed by Item 11 "Were potential conflict of interest included?" (nine SRs didn't described it), and Item 6 "Were the characteristics of included studies provided" (six SRs didn't provided it). The results of grading showed that, 29 outcomes were graded as "low" or "very low" quality. The main factors contributed to downgrading evidence quality were limitations (31 outcomes), followed by imprecision (12 outcomes), and inconsistency (13 outcomes). ConclusionCurrently, the methodological quality of SRs about traditional Chinese medicine for essential hypertension was poor on the whole, with low quality of evidence as well as lack of enough attention to the end outcomes of patients with essential hypertension. Thus, physicians should apply the evidence to make decision about traditional Chinese medicine for essential hypertension with caution in clinical practice.
ObjectiveTo overview the systematic reviews on efficacy and safety of hyperbaric oxygen in treatment of diabetic foot.MethodsCNKI, CBM, VIP, WanFang Data, The Cochrane Library, PubMed and EMbase databases were searched to collect systematic reviews or meta-analyses on the efficacy and safety of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for diabetic foot from inception to November 17th, 2019. Two researchers independently screened literature and extracted data. Then, AMSTAR 2 tool and PRISMA statement were used to evaluate the methodological quality and reporting quality of included systematic reviews, and the outcome indicators were comprehensively analyzed.ResultsA total of 10 systematic reviews were included. The results of AMSTAR 2 suggested that 6 systematic reviews were of extremely low quality, 3 of low quality, and 1 of high quality. The PRISMA score ranged from 16.5 to 27. The results of the included systematic reviews showed that hyperbaric oxygen therapy might be superior to other interventions in ulcer healing rate and large amputation rate without increasing the risk of adverse events. ConclusionsThe existing systematic reviews/meta-analysis evidence shows that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may have certain curative effect on diabetic foot, however, its methodology and report quality evaluation are insufficient.