ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy and safety of ginseng preparations in improving insulin resistance (IR). MethodsWe electronically searched databases including PubMed, MEDLINE, EMbase, CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data, and CBM from inception to October 2015, to collect randomized controlled trials (RCT) about ginseng preparations for IR patients. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 17 RCTs involving 1169 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that treatment combined with ginseng preparations group was superior to the control group in levels of HOMA-IR (MD=-0.13, 95%CI -0.24 to -0.01, P=0.03), ISI (MD=0.72, 95%CI 0.25 to 1.19, P=0.003), FPG (MD=-0.90, 95%CI -1.27 to -0.52, P<0.00001), 2hPG (MD=-1.48, 95%CI -2.03 to -0.92, P<0.00001) and HbA1c (MD=-0.73, 95%CI -1.16 to -0.31, P=0.0008). No statistically differences between two groups were found in levels of FPI and F-CP. As for the safety, a total of 9 cases in the ginseng group occurred adverse reactions. Symptoms of adverse reactions included hypoglycemia, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision. ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that, treatment combined with ginseng preparations could improve insulin sensitivity and reduce blood glucose in IR patients with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, the above conclusion need to be verified by more high quality studies.
The traditional Chinese medicine has played an important role in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Based on the role of traditional Chinese medicine in dealing with the previous epidemics and COVID-19, this paper analyzes the problems and challenges of current situation, and focuses on improving traditional Chinese medicine scientific identification, strengthening the construction of traditional Chinese medicine system, and increasing the intensity of Chinese and Western medicine and so on. In order to improve the cooperation mechanism of Chinese and Western medicine for epidemic prevention and control, and give full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the construction of national public health emergency system, this paper also gives ten corresponding suggestions.
Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is one of the most common and complex complications of diabetes. In recent years, studies have shown that gut microbiota can regulate inflammatory response, intestinal permeability, glucose metabolism, and fatty acid oxidation, synthesis, and energy consumption by regulating factors such as lipopolysaccharides, short chain fatty acids, bile acids, and branched chain amino acids, achieving the goal of treating DNP. This paper summarizes the relevant mechanisms of gut microbiota in the treatment of DNP, the relevant intervention measures of traditional Chinese and western medicine, in order to provide new ideas for clinical treatment of DNP.
Objective To investigate inpatient disease constitution in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 2008 to 2010, in order to provide baseline data for medicine allocation of hospitals in western China and development of TCM hospitals. Methods A questionnaire combined with a subject interview was carried out, and the case records of inpatients from 2008 to 2010 were collected. The diseases in discharge records were classified according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) based on the first diagnosis. Data including general information of the inpatients, discharge diagnosis etc. were rearranged and analyzed by Excel software. Results a) The top four systematic diseases seen commonly from 2008 to 2010 were as follows: circulatory system diseases, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, respiratory system diseases and digestive system diseases. The top four single diseases were hypertension, intervertebral disc disease, diabetes, bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Respiratory system diseases ranked the third in 2009 and 2010 from the fourth in 2008, and circulatory system diseases had ranked the first during the past three years; b) The following diseases as hypertension, bronchial emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes, fractures, airway (bronchus, lung) cancer, and viral hepatitis were commonly seen in males rather than in females. By contrast, intervertebral disc disease, gallstone disease and cholecystitis, and anemia were commonly seen in females; and c) Hypertension was commonly seen in the aged above 60 years old; intervertebral disc disease mainly focused on the patients at the age of 15 to 59; and bronchial emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, airway (bronchus, lung) cancer involved in the patients who were mostly over 60 years old. Conclusion a) The top four systematic diseases seen commonly from 2008to 2010 are as follows: circulatory system diseases, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, respiratory system diseases and digestive system diseases. The top four single diseases are hypertension, intervertebral disc disease, diabetes, bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. So these diseases should be taken into well consideration when making development plans by hospital and complementing essential drugs list by local development; b) Chronic diseases become the main disease for troubling Xinjiang population; and c) Male and female are susceptible to different diseases which should be rationally avoided in order to prevent the induced occurrence.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the quality of protocols and reports on the core outcome set of traditional Chinese medicine (COS-TCM), and to provide some evidence for COS-TCM developers to carry out studies and improve the reporting quality and methodological quality during their studies. MethodsLiterature databases in Chinese and English were searched to collect COS-TCM protocols or study reports from inception to April 18, 2023. The Core Outcome Set-STAndards for Reporting (COS-STAR), Core Outcome Set-STAndards for Development (COS-STAD), and Core Outcome Set-STAndardised Protocol Items (COS-STAP) were used to evaluate their reporting and methodological quality. Additionally, the consistency of studies with both published protocols and results was evaluated. ResultsA total of 14 protocols and 14 reports (involving 23 COS-TCM studies) were included. The evaluation of COS-TCM protocols according to the COS-STAP found that the reporting rates of "Stakeholders" (71.4%) and "Missing data" (42.9%) were relatively low. For the reports of COS-TCM, the evaluation based on the COS-STAD found that the reporting rates of "the population (s) covered by the COS" (35.7%) and "care was taken to avoid ambiguity of language used in the list of outcomes" (28.6%) were relatively low. Based on the COS-STAR, the items with low reporting rates were "Protocol Deviation" (7.1%), "Participants" (21.4%), and "Conflicts of interest" (28.6%). Additionally, the consistency evaluation found that there were inconsistencies between protocols and their results, such as the types of research included in the systematic review, the methods of qualitative research, the way of holding consensus meetings, scoring methods, etc. Moreover, only one study reported protocol deviation and reasons for change. ConclusionCOS-TCM studies need to improve their methodological quality and report transparency. When developing COS-TCM, we should pay attention to the characteristics of TCM while basing on international standards. The quality evaluation guidelines and standards of reporting for COS-TCM study need to be developed in the future.
Objective To investigate the effectiveness of teaching morning handover in clinical teaching of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in general hospitals. Methods A retrospective study was conducted at the Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University from April 2023 to March 2024, involving a total of 220 participants including interns, postgraduates/standardized training students, and residents/refresher students. The control group consisted of trainees who studied from April to September 2023, while the observation group included those who studied from October 2023 to March 2024. Teaching morning handover was added to the clinical morning report for the observation group, while the control group only conducted the conventional clinical morning report. Due to the differences in basic knowledge and clinical positioning, trainees except interns were classified as clinical residents. A questionnaire survey including satisfaction of teaching content, teaching methods, teaching ability and teaching management and graduation assessment including total score, theoretical assessment score, clinical process score and participation in teaching activities were compared between the two groups. Results Compared with those of the interns (n=57) and clinical residents (n=49) in the control group respectively, there was no statistically significant difference in satisfaction of teaching content, teaching methods or teaching ability of the interns (n=78) and clinical residents (n=36) in the observation group (P>0.05); however, teaching management satisfaction was significantly improved (interns P=0.002, clinical residents P=0.022). Both the interns and clinical residents in the observation group had a significantly higher total score as well as theoretical assessment score and increased participation in teaching activities (P values for interns were <0.001, 0.001, and <0.001, respectively, and for clinical residents were <0.001, 0.013, and <0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant difference observed between groups regarding clinical process score (P>0.05). Conclusion Teaching morning handover is helpful in improving the quality of TCM teaching in general hospitals and is an effective model for clinical teaching of TCM.
Objective To learn the current situation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) systematic reviews/meta-analyses published in Chinese journals. Methods All TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses published from 1978 to July 31, 2009 were searched in the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM). According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, relevant information was extracted on the basis of research purpose. Meanwhile, publication year, journal name, author’s district, number of authors and their articles, types of diseases and interventions were took as the indexes, and then descriptive analysis was performed using SPSS 15.0 software. Results A total of 245 articles including 238 in Chinese and 7 in English were included. All of them were published in 117 different journals from 1998 to 2008, showing an accelerating growth trend of article number. In addition to only one article with first author from Germany, the first author of other 244 were from 24 domestic provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities); the number of authors ranged from 1 to 11; a total of 186 people had published articles as first author, and the number of their published articles ranged from 1 to 29. There were 16 types of diseases according to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition (ICD-10). Totally, 218 articles took drugs as interventions (including 106 listed drugs, 25 self-made prescriptions, 70 related to both listed drugs and self-made prescriptions, and 17 without reporting detailed interventions), accounting for 89%; and 27 articles were about non-drug interventions (including 26 about acupuncture and 1 about massage), accounting for 11%. Most (95.8%) of the articles about self-made prescriptions and listed drugs/self-made prescriptions adopted inappropriate pooled analyses. Conclusion Evidence-based medicine has been spread into the field of TCM, the number of TCM systematic reviews/meta-analyses shows an accelerated growth trend. The types of diseases discussed in the literature were almost the same as the diseases those could be effectively treated by TCM, but there existed imbalance in districts. In the future, systematic review/meta-analysis on drug intervention should aim at Chinese patent medicines and single medicines rather than self-made prescriptions, and should pay more attention to advantageous drugs and advantageous treatments of diseases. Moreover, importance should be also attached to clinical heterogeneity controlling when using acupuncture as a non-drug intervention.
Objective To assess the effectiveness and safety of Chinese medicinal herbs for female immune-caused subfertility. Methods Databases included: MEDLINE (1966-2002.2), EMBASE (1984-2002.2), CBM (1978-2002.2) and Cochrane Controlled Trial Register, CCTR (Issue 1, 2002). Reference lists of trials were handsearched. Published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) whether blind or unblind, any languages and length of follow up were included. Treatments included Chinese medicinal herbs (single or compound). Controls were placebo and western medicine, or no intervention. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers and analyzed with Revman 4.2. Results Six RCTs were included, all of which were poor in methodological quality. Because of different therapies in the treatment and control groups, we did not perform meta-analysis. The No.1 anti-immune tablet was more effective than corticosteroid plus condom during intercourse both in the pregnancy rate (RR 3.75, 95%CI 1.61 to 8.75, P=0.002) and AsAb negative rate (RR 1.66, 95%CI 1.23 to 2.22, P=0.000 8). Bushen Xiezhuo Soup was more effective than antibiotic in the pregnancy rate (RR 2.97, 95%CI 1.60 to 5.50, P=0.000 6) and antisperm antibody (AsAb) negative rate (RR 2.33, 95%CI 1.54 to 3.54, Plt;0.000 1)。Zhenqi Zhuanyin Soup was as effective as IUI in pregnancy rate (RR 1.80, 95%CI 0.58 to 5.60, P＝0.31) but more effective than IUI in AsAb negative conversion rate (RR 9.61, 95%CI 3.22 to 28.67, Plt;0.000 1), Zhenqi Zhuanyin Soup combined with IUI was more effective than IUI in pregnancy rate (RR 3.60, 95%CI 1.32 to 9.85,P=0.01) and AsAb negative rate (RR 8.92, 95%CI 2.98 to 26.75, Plt;0.000 1). Conclusions Some Chinese medicinal herbs may work well in subfertility treatment. However, the evidence is too weak to draw a conclusion for there are deficiencies in strict randomization, blinding and follow-up.More strictly designed, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are required.
Chinese medicine (CM) has significant clinical effects in the treatment of tracheal-bronchitis. It is of important clinical significance to formulate guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of tracheal-bronchitis based on the characteristics of TCM syndrome differentiation. The Respiratory Disease Branch of China Association of Chinese Medicine and Respiratory Disease Branch of China Medical Association of Minorities organized and established a multi-disciplinary background working group, based on the World Health Organization Handbook for Guideline Development and the Guideline Development Handbook for Diagnosis and Therapy of Integrative Medicine to develop this guideline. It was developed through technical links such as clinical problem investigation, evidence collection and evaluation, Delphi consultation, and expert consensus meetings. Based on the current best evidence, CM intervention costs and expert experience, 25 recommendations were established to standardize the etiology and pathogenesis of tracheal-bronchitis, syndrome differentiation and treatment, prevention, and care, etc., which can be used by physicians at different levels of medical institutions.
ObjectiveTo introduce and preliminarily apply a tool for assessing the importance of research questions (Australia & New Zealand Musculoskeletal Clinical Trials Network Research Question Importance Tool, ANZMUSC-RQIT), thereby providing a methodological reference for selecting research questions. MethodsAn overview of the development process and main content of ANZMUSC-RQIT is provided, and an exploratory application of the tool is conducted to evaluate clinical research questions in the field of musculoskeletal disorders (MSKDs) within Chinese Medicine (CM). ResultsANZMUSC-RQIT assesses the importance of specific research questions across five dimensions. Currently, clinical research on MSKDs in CM often focuses on the consensus among stakeholders regarding the importance of issues, prioritizes addressing problems that pose a significant burden on patients, and aims to alleviate clinical symptoms as the main intervention goal. The total score of ANZMUSC-RQIT is positively correlated with journal impact but shows no statistically significant relationship with citation frequency. Additionally, national funding support is positively correlated with the RQIT total score of the research question. ConclusionThe development of ANZMUSC-RQIT provides valuable reference and inspiration for selecting future research questions. However, to more effectively assess the importance of CM clinical research questions, there is a pressing need to develop an evaluation tool tailored to the specific characteristics of CM clinical research.