Attention Situation of Chinese Patent Medicine for Constipation in Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines/Consensus and National Reimbursement Drug List / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo evaluate the methodological quality of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） diagnosis and treatment guidelines/consensus of constipation with Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation Ⅱ （AGREE Ⅱ）tool， and to study the attention situation of the included Chinese patent medicines in China's National Reimbursement Drug List in the guidelines/consensus. MethodThe data of CNKI，VIP，Wanfang Data，SinoMed，PubMed and Cochrane from the inception of the databases to October 2021 were searched to collect the TCM diagnosis and treatment guidelines/consensus of constipation. Then，the diagnosis and treatment standards and recommended Chinese patent medicines were extracted. Two researchers assessed the methodological quality of the guidelines/consensus with AGREE Ⅱ tool independently. The quality of reports was evaluated by Reporting Items for practice Guidelines in HealThcare （RIGHT） Statement. The recommended Chinese patent medicines in the guidelines/consensus were compared with those in the National Reimbursement Drug List. ResultEleven consensus and 2 guidelines were included，involving 794 experts. The scores of AGREE II were clarity of presentation（59.0%），scope and purpose（44.0%），stakeholder involvement（23.1%），rigor of development （12.1%），applicability （11.1%），and editorial independence （8.3%） from high to low. Five articles were recommended at B level（recommended after revision） and 8 articles were at C level （not recommended）. The average scores of RIGHT Statement were as follows：basic information （93.59%），background （57.69%），evidence （18.46%），recommendations （20.88%），review and quality assurance （19.23%），funding，declaration and management of interests （0.00%）， and other information （0.00%）. The included guidelines/consensus recommended a total of 27 Chinese patent medicines，among which 20 were included in the National Reimbursement Drug List，with 4 species of Class A and 16 species of Class B， accounting for 74.1% of all recommended Chinese patent medicines. Ten purgative Chinese patent medicines in the National Reimbursement Drug List were recommended by the guidelines/consensus，accounting for 50% of all purgative drugs， and 8 were not recommended. There were prescriptions for purgation， for promoting digestion and removing food stagnation， for clearing heat and purging fire，and for warming the middle and dissipating cold，Tibetan medicine and Mongolian medicine. ConclusionBy the AGREE Ⅱ assessment，the methodological quality of the TCM diagnosis and treatment guidelines/consensus of constipation included in this study needed to be improved in the future. The report quality evaluated with RIGHT Statement was low. Most drugs included in the National Reimbursement Drug List were paid attention in the TCM diagnosis and treatment guidelines/consensus of constipation. Moreover，the drugs included in the National Reimbursement Drug List could basically fulfill the clinical needs reflexed from the guidelines/consensus recommendations. However， the reasons of some drugs failing to be included in the National Reimbursement Drug List needed to be studied in the future.

Clinical Practice Guidelines of Rehabilitation: Methodological Quality / 中国康复理论与实践

@#Objective To evaluate the methodological quality of clinical practice guidelines of rehabilitation using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II.Methods Clinical practice guidelines of rehabilitation were searched in databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Wanfang database, CNKI, China Biology Medicine disc and related websites from medlive.cn, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, National Guideline Clearinghouse, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, World Health Organization, and Guidelines International Network from establishment to January 11, 2020. Two researchers reviewed literatures and assessed the methodological quality of the guidelines independently by using AGREE II; any disagreements needed to be discussed in a consensus meeting.Results A total of 84 guidelines were included in the study, with 67 foreign guidelines and 17 domestic guidelines. The average score rate for all the guidelines was 48.1%, in which 49.9% for the foreign guidelines and 40.7% for the domestic guidelines. In the six areas of AGREE II, the average score rate of the foreign guidelines was higher than that of domestic ones (|Z| > 2.034, P < 0.05), expect applicability; the average score rate of clarity and independence improved with the launch of AGREE Ⅱ ( Z > 2.130, P < 0.05). The average scores rate ranged from high to low followed as range and purpose (41.6%), clarity (39.9%), participants (24.5%), rigor (23.2%), independence (15.5%) and applicability (12.9%). Conclusion Clinical practice guidelines of rehabilitation is mainly of low quality by AGREE II. Guideline developers need to work after AGREE Ⅱ standard in the future.

AGREE-based evaluation and content analysis of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for acupuncture-moxibustion / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To carry out the methodological quality evaluation and content analysis of the evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for acupuncture-moxibustion in China, and to provide reference for the development and updating of future guidelines.@*METHODS@#With Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and EvaluationⅡ(AGREEⅡ), 20 evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for acupuncture and moxibustion in China were evaluated from six aspects: scope and purpose, stakeholder involvement, rigour of development, clarity of presentation, applicability and editorial independence. In addition, the contents of 20 guidelines were systematically analyzed, and the characteristics of guidelines were summarized from the aspects of disease selection, operation technology type and safety.@*RESULTS@#The scores of six domains were scope and purpose (91.1%), stakeholder involvement (68.5%), rigour of development (68.6%), clarity of presentation (90.3%), applicability (34.5%) and editorial independence (16.7%). The recommendations of the 20 acupuncture guidelines covered common clinical problems such as diagnosis, treatment and precautions, which were in line with the clinical characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion in terms of content structure.@*CONCLUSION@#The methodology of the evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for acupuncture and moxibustion in China conformed to the requirements of AGREEⅡ on the quality evaluation, and the overall quality was moderate, but the aspects of applicability and editorial independence were still needed to be improved. The contents of recommendations in 20 guidelines were specific and clear, in line with the characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion, presenting clinical reference value. In the future, in the process of guideline development, the method of developing acupuncture and moxibustion guidelines should be constantly improved to improve the quality of the guidelines; in the meantime, more attention should be paid to the generalization and clinical applicability evaluation.

Quality assessment of clinical practice guidelines for integrative medicine in China: A systematic review / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the quality of integrative medicine clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) published before 2014.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A systematic search of the scientific literature published before 2014 was conducted to select integrative medicine CPGs. Four major Chinese integrated databases and one guideline database were searched: the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Wanfang Data, and the China Guideline Clearinghouse (CGC). Four reviewers independently assessed the quality of the included guidelines using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II Instrument. Overall consensus among the reviewers was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 41 guidelines published from 2003 to 2014 were included. The overall consensus among the reviewers was good [ICC: 0.928; 95% confifi dence interval (CI): 0.920 to 0.935]. The scores on the 6 AGREE domains were: 17% for scope and purpose (range: 6% to 32%), 11% for stakeholder involvement (range: 0 to 24%), 10% for rigor of development (range: 3% to 22%), 39% for clarity and presentation (range: 25% to 64%), 11% for applicability (range: 4% to 24%), and 1% for editorial independence (range: 0 to 15%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The quality of integrative medicine CPGs was low, the development of integrative medicine CPGs should be guided by systematic methodology. More emphasis should be placed on multi-disciplinary guideline development groups, quality of evidence, management of funding and conflfl icts of interest, and guideline updates in the process of developing integrative medicine CPGs in China.</p>

Appraisal of clinical practice guidelines for ischemic stroke management in Chinese medicine with appraisal of guidelines for research and evaluation instrument: A systematic review / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To systematically review the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for ischemic stroke in Chinese medicine (CM) with the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CM CPGs for ischemic stroke were searched in 5 online databases and hand-searches in CPGrelated handbooks published from January 1990 to December 2012. The CPGs were categorized into evidence based (EB) guideline, consensus based with no explicit consideration of evidence based (CB-EB) guideline and consensus based (CB) guideline according to the development method. Three reviewers independently appraised the CPGs based on AGREE II instrument, and compared the CPGs' recommendations on CM pattern classification and treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five CM CPGs for ischemic stroke were identified and included. Among them, one CPG was EB guideline, two were CB guidelines and two were CB-EB guidelines. The quality score of the EB guideline was higher than those of the CB-EB and CB guidelines. Five CM patterns in the CPGs were recommended in the EB CPG. The comprehensive protocol of integrative Chinese and Western medicine recommended in the EB CPG was mostly recommended for ischemic stroke in the CPGs. The recommendations varied based on the CM patterns.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The quality of EB CPG was higher than those of CB and CB-EB CPGs in CM for ischemic stroke and integrative approaches were included in CPGs as major interventions.</p>