Are meta-analyses of Chinese herbal medicine trials trustworthy and clinically applicable? A cross-sectional study

Chung, Vincent C.H.; Ho, Robin Sze-Tak; Wu, Xinyin; Fung, Daisy; Lai, Xin; Wu, Justin C.Y.; Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2014.12.028

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…These MAs usually draw more favorable conclusions for the financially supported intervention (17,18). Unfortunately, it is difficult for readers to detect such sponsorship as majority of authors did not state sources of support for both the MA and for each of the included primary studies (10,12,13,19). Only 7.5% of included MAs reported this information comprehensively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiological characteristics and methodological quality of meta-analyses on diabetes mellitus treatment: a systematic review

Lam²,

Yu³

et al. 2016

European Journal of Endocrinology

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Objective: Well-conducted meta-analyses (MAs) are considered as one of the best sources of clinical evidence for treatment decision. MA with methodological flaws may introduce bias and mislead evidence users. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics and methodological quality of MAs on diabetes mellitus (DM) treatments. Design: Systematic review. Methods: Cochrane Database of Systematic Review and Database of Abstract of Reviews of Effects were searched for relevant MAs. Assessing methodological quality of systematic reviews (AMSTAR) tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of included MAs. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify association between characteristics of MA and AMSTAR results. Results: A total of 252 MAs including 4999 primary studies and 13,577,025 patients were included. Over half of the MAs (65.1%) only included type 2 DM patients and 160 MAs (63.5%) focused on pharmacological treatments. About 89.7% MAs performed comprehensive literature search and 89.3% provided characteristics of included studies. Included MAs generally had poor performance on the remaining AMSTAR items, especially in assessing publication bias (39.3%), providing lists of studies (19.0%) and declaring source of support comprehensively (7.5%). Only 62.7% MAs mentioned about harm of interventions. MAs with corresponding author from Asia performed less well in providing MA protocol than those from Europe.Conclusions: Methodological quality of MA on DM treatments was unsatisfactory. There is considerable room for improvement, especially in assessing publication bias, providing lists of studies and declaring source of support comprehensively. Also, there is an urgent need for MA authors to report treatment harm comprehensively.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiological characteristics and methodological quality of meta-analyses on diabetes mellitus treatment: a systematic review

Lam²,

Yu³

et al. 2016

European Journal of Endocrinology

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“…It has reported that lots of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) have therapeutic effects on diabetes and its complications with fewer side effects (Chung et al, 2015). And the underlying mechanism may be associated with SIRT1/FOXO1 signaling pathway (Zhu et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Puerarin, isolated from Pueraria lobata (Willd.), protects against diabetic nephropathy by attenuating oxidative stress

Zheng

Chen

et al. 2016

Gene

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“…However, methodological shortcomings of MAs may influence the trustworthiness of synthesis findings and may subsequently mislead decision‐making . Previous appraisals of MAs in other healthcare disciplines have shown varying extents of methodological limitations . The rigor of MAs on hypertension treatments has not yet been assessed in a comprehensive manner.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Methodological Quality of Meta‐Analyses on Hypertension Treatments—A Cross‐Sectional Study

et al. 2016

J of Clinical Hypertension

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3Methodological quality of meta-analyses on hypertension treatments can affect treatment decision-making. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the methodological quality of meta-analyses on hypertension treatments. One hundred and fifty-eight metaanalyses were identified. Overall, methodological quality was unsatisfactory in the following aspects: comprehensive reporting of financial support (1.9%), provision of included and excluded lists of studies (22.8%), inclusion of grey literature (27.2%), and inclusion of protocols (32.9%). The 126 non-Cochrane meta-analyses had poor performance on almost all the methodological items.Non-Cochrane meta-analyses focused on nonpharmacologic treatments were more likely to consider scientific quality of included studies when making conclusions. The 32 Cochrane meta-analyses generally had good methodological quality except for comprehensive reporting of the sources of support. These results highlight the need for cautious interpretation of these meta-analyses, especially among physicians and policy makers when guidelines are formulated. Future meta-analyses should pay attention to improving these methodological aspects.

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Are meta-analyses of Chinese herbal medicine trials trustworthy and clinically applicable? A cross-sectional study

Cited by 26 publications

References 27 publications

Epidemiological characteristics and methodological quality of meta-analyses on diabetes mellitus treatment: a systematic review

Epidemiological characteristics and methodological quality of meta-analyses on diabetes mellitus treatment: a systematic review

Puerarin, isolated from Pueraria lobata (Willd.), protects against diabetic nephropathy by attenuating oxidative stress

Characteristics and Methodological Quality of Meta‐Analyses on Hypertension Treatments—A Cross‐Sectional Study

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