ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of reports published in recent 10 years in China about quantitative analysis of syndrome differentiation for diabetes mellitus (DM) in order to explore the methodological problems in these reports and find possible solutions. METHODS: The main medical literature databases in China were searched. Thirty-one articles were included and evaluated by the principles of clinical epidemiology. RESULTS: There were many mistakes and deficiencies in these articles, such as clinical trial designs, diagnosis criteria for DM, standards of syndrome differentiation of DM, case inclusive and exclusive criteria, sample size and estimation, data comparability and statistical methods. CONCLUSION: It is necessary and important to improve the quality of reports concerning quantitative analysis of syndrome differentiation of DM in light of the principles of clinical epidemiology.