ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo analyze the utilization of outcome indexes and other trial design elements in randomized controlled trials （RCTs） of Chinese medicine for diabetic kidney disease （DKD） and provide a basis for the design of clinical trials and the development of core outcome index sets for Chinese medicine treatment of DKD. MethodSeven medical databases （CNKI， Wanfang Data， VIP， SinoMed， etc.） and two clinical trial registration centers （clinicaltrials.gov and chinadrugtrials.org.cn） were searched for RCTs of Chinese medicine for DKD published in the past 5 years. The included studies were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions， and the outcome indexes and other trial design elements were statistically analyzed. ResultNinety-seven RCTs were enrolled， including five trial registration protocols. The overall risk of bias was found to be high in the included studies. Stage Ⅲ DKD （36 studies， 41.38%） and the Qi-Yin deficiency with blood stasis syndrome （16 studies， 26.23%） were the top DKD stage and traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome， respectively. The treatment duration ranged from 2 weeks to 96 weeks， with 12 weeks being the most common duration （52 studies， 56.52%）. A total of 152 outcome indexes were used in 92 RCTs and five registered trials， with a frequency of 1 040 times. These indexes were classified into eight categories： Laboratory tests （blood）， laboratory tests （urine）， clinical efficacy， TCM syndrome score， quality of life scales， vital signs， other indexes， and other events. The most frequently used outcome indexes were serum creatinine （68 times， 70.10%）， clinical response rate （55 times， 56.70%）， fasting blood glucose （51 times， 52.58%）， blood urea nitrogen （48 times， 49.48%）， total cholesterol （47 times， 48.45%）， and 24-hour urinary protein excretion （43 times， 44.33%）. Safety indexes were used in 56 RCTs and two registered trials， with 53 different indexes and a frequency of 227 times. The most frequently used safety indexes were adverse reactions （49 times， 84.48%）， liver function （28 times， 48.28%）， complete blood count （24 times， 41.38%）， electrocardiogram （17 times， 29.31%）， and urinalysis （14 times， 24.14%）. Ten RCTs and five registered trials reported primary outcome indexes， and 54 RCTs reported clinical response rates. ConclusionThe current design of outcome indexes in RCTs of Chinese medicine for DKD is not standardized. In the future， efforts should be made to develop core outcome index sets that highlight the characteristics of TCM， improve the quality of clinical research， and enhance the applicability of trial results.
ABSTRACT
The present study analyzed the efficacy evaluation indexes of the randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of Chinese medi-cine in the treatment of rheumatic heart disease to lay the foundation for the construction of the corresponding core outcome index set. Clinical RCTs with a definite diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease were retrieved from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, Sino Med, Pub Med, EMbase, and Cochrane Library from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2020. Thirty-five RCTs were included, involving 3 314 patients and 41 efficacy evaluation indexes, which covered seven domains [traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) symptoms/syndromes, symp-toms/signs, physical and chemical examination, quality of life, long-term prognosis, economic evaluation, and safety events]. Physi-cal and chemical examination(56. 91%) and symptoms/signs(29. 27%) were the more frequently applied. The number of indexes used in a single trial ranged from 1 to 15, with an average of 4. The measurement time points of the top five indexes in the frequency of use were as follows: total response rate was reported at five measurement time points, ranging from 14 days to 6 months; left ventri-cular ejection fraction was measured at eight time points ranging from 5 days to 6 months; left ventricular end systolic diameter was measured at six time points, ranging from 5 days to 6 months; interleukin-2(IL-2) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were repor-ted 28 days after treatment. At present, there are many problems in the efficacy outcome indexes of RCTs in the treatment of rheumatic heart disease with TCM, such as large difference in quantity, unclear primary and secondary indexes, unreasonable selection of " surro-gate indexes", insufficient attention to long-term prognostic indexes and safety event indexes, non-standard application of composite in-dexes, long measurement period, and lack of TCM characteristics. It is urgent to establish the core outcome set for TCM treatment of rheumatic heart disease.
Subject(s)
Humans , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Quality of Life , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic , Rheumatic Heart Disease/drug therapy , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the selection situation of outcome indexes in randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke and to provide suggestions for future research. In this study, four Chinese databases and three English databases were searched from January 2017 to June 2019. The randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of ischemic stroke were selected according to the pre-established selection criteria. Cochrane bias risk assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. A total of 20 651 related articles were searched, and 11 662 ones were left after eliminating the repetitions. Finally, 42 articles were included, including 36 articles in Chinese and 6 articles in English, 40 randomized controlled trials and 2 registration schemes of randomized controlled trials. The results showed that the outcome indexes of 42 randomized controlled trials were mainly divided into seven categories, that is clinical outcome index, blood biochemical index, mental state evaluation index, cerebral hemodynamics index, index of evaluating the degree of carotid artery stenosis, safety indicators and other indicators. The blood biochemical index was the one with highest frequency, followed by the clinical outcome index. TCM syndrome score was used as an indicator of curative outcome in 17 studies. After the analysis, it was found that there were many problems in selecting the outcome indexes for the randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of cerebral apoplexy. For example, the end point index and hard index were rarely selected as the main outcome indicators, and the vast majority of them were intermediate alternative indexes; recognized curative effect could not be obtained; there were too many kinds of outcome indicators and excessive heterogeneity, hindering the promotion of superior treatment measures of traditional Chinese medicine in clinical practice. Therefore, we should draw lessons from the establishment method of the international core index outcome index set, construct the core index outcome index set of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of ischemic stroke, and develop the outcome index set which accords with the curative effect characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine treatment mea-sures to solve the problems effectively.