Heterogeneity in Search Strategies among Cochrane Acupuncture Reviews: Is There Room for Improvement?

Lui, Steve; Smith, Erica J.; Terplan, Mishka

doi:10.1136/aim.2010.002444

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…These studies focused predominantly on SRs/MAs covering diagnostic research and critical care. Although some quality assessment studies have looked at acupuncture SRs/MAs [13] – [15] , they have focused mainly on methodological diversity in database searching, risk of bias, and heterogeneity in search strategies among CDSR. Our study compared reporting quality and PRISMA compliance in acupuncture SRs/MAs between different journal types.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reporting Quality of Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses of Acupuncture

et al. 2014

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BackgroundThe QUOROM and PRISMA statements were published in 1999 and 2009, respectively, to improve the consistency of reporting systematic reviews (SRs)/meta-analyses (MAs) of clinical trials. However, not all SRs/MAs adhere completely to these important standards. In particular, it is not clear how well SRs/MAs of acupuncture studies adhere to reporting standards and which reporting criteria are generally ignored in these analyses.ObjectivesTo evaluate reporting quality in SRs/MAs of acupuncture studies.MethodsWe performed a literature search for studies published prior to 2014 using the following public archives: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) database, the Chinese Journal Full-text Database (CJFD), the Chinese Scientific Journal Full-text Database (CSJD), and the Wanfang database. Data were extracted into pre-prepared Excel data-extraction forms. Reporting quality was assessed based on the PRISMA checklist (27 items).ResultsOf 476 appropriate SRs/MAs identified in our search, 203, 227, and 46 were published in Chinese journals, international journals, and the Cochrane Database, respectively. In 476 SRs/MAs, only 3 reported the information completely. By contrast, approximately 4.93% (1/203), 8.81% (2/227) and 0.00% (0/46) SRs/Mas reported less than 10 items in Chinese journals, international journals and CDSR, respectively. In general, the least frequently reported items (reported≤50%) in SRs/MAs were “protocol and registration”, “risk of bias across studies”, and “additional analyses” in both methods and results sections.ConclusionsSRs/MAs of acupuncture studies have not comprehensively reported information recommended in the PRISMA statement. Our study underscores that, in addition to focusing on careful study design and performance, attention should be paid to comprehensive reporting standards in SRs/MAs on acupuncture studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reporting Quality of Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses of Acupuncture

et al. 2014

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“…The goal of a systematic review is to identify relevant studies completely and unbiasedly [70]. It has been demonstrated [71,72] that significant amounts of evidence would potentially be missed if the search is limited to English-only sources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cochrane Systematic Reviews of Chinese Herbal Medicines: An Overview

Zhang

Zhao

et al. 2011

PLoS ONE

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ObjectivesOur study had two objectives: a) to systematically identify all existing systematic reviews of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) published in Cochrane Library; b) to assess the methodological quality of included reviews.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe performed a systematic search of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR, Issue 5, 2010) to identify all reviews of CHM. A total of fifty-eight reviews were eligible for our study. Twenty-one of the included reviews had at least one Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner as its co-author. 7 reviews didn't include any primary study, the remaining reviews (n = 51) included a median of 9 studies and 936 participants. 50% of reviews were last assessed as up-to-date prior to 2008. The questions addressed by 39 reviews were broad in scope, in which 9 reviews combined studies with different herbal medicines. For OQAQ, the mean of overall quality score (item 10) was 5.05 (95% CI; 4.58-5.52). All reviews assessed the methodological quality of primary studies, 16% of included primary studies used adequate sequence generation and 7% used adequate allocation concealment. Of the 51 nonempty reviews, 23 reviews were reported as being inconclusive, while 27 concluded that there might be benefit of CHM, which was limited by the poor quality or inadequate quantity of included studies. 58 reviews reported searching a median of seven electronic databases, while 10 reviews did not search any Chinese database.ConclusionsNow CDSR has included large numbers of CHM reviews, our study identified some areas which could be improved, such as almost half of included reviews did not have the participation of TCM practitioners and were not up-to-date according to Cochrane criteria, some reviews pooled the results of different herbal medicines and ignored the searching of Chinese databases.

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“…As a result, the search strategies of many Cochrane reviews of acupuncture are characterized by considerable heterogeneity [9]. A previous study found that the number of databases searched varied among Cochrane acupuncture reviews, with only two out of ten reviews searching Chinese databases [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A previous study found that the number of databases searched varied among Cochrane acupuncture reviews, with only two out of ten reviews searching Chinese databases [4]. Another study revealed that 26 out of 65 Cochrane acupuncture reviews and protocols searched Chinese language databases [9]. Both studies emphasized the inclusion of Chinese databases to prevent bias associated with the exclusion of controlled trials reported in languages other than English.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our pilot study using the January 2011 issue of CDSR, 59 Cochrane reviews and protocols that regarded acupuncture as a primary intervention were identified [10]. The number of Cochrane reviews or protocols that included at least one Chinese database in their search was significantly higher (44 out of 59) than those in the study of Lui et al, [9] whereas the number that included at least one Korean database search was much smaller (4 out of 59). Although the number of Cochrane acupuncture reviews and protocols that include Chinese databases in the search is increasing, the lack of relevant database searches using languages other than English or Chinese still increases the susceptibility of these searches to the risk of language bias.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Including Korean Randomized Controlled Trials in Cochrane Reviews of Acupuncture

et al. 2012

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ObjectiveAcupuncture is commonly practiced in Korea and is regularly evaluated in clinical trials. Although many Cochrane reviews of acupuncture include searches of both English and Chinese databases, there is no information on the value of searching Korean databases. This study aimed to investigate the impact of searching Korean databasesand journals for trials eligible for inclusion in existing Cochrane acupuncture reviews.MethodsWe searched 12 Korean databases and seven Korean journals to identify randomised trials meeting the inclusion criteria for acupuncture reviews in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. We compared risk of bias assessments of the Korean trials with the trials included in the Cochrane acupuncture reviews. Where possible, we added data from the Korean trials to the existing meta-analyses in the relevant Cochrane review and conducted sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of the results.ResultsSixteen Korean trials (742 participants) met the inclusion criteria for eight Cochrane acupuncture reviews (125 trials; 13,041 participants). Inclusion of the Korean trials provided data for 20% of existing meta-analyses (24 out of 120). Inclusion of the Korean trials did not change the direction of effect in any of the existing meta-analyses. The effect size and heterogeneity remained mostly unchanged. In only one meta-analysis did the significance change. Compared to the studies included in the Cochrane acupuncture reviews, the risk of bias in the Korean trials was higher in terms of outcome assessor blinding and allocation concealment.ConclusionsMany Korean studies contributed additional data to the existing meta-analyses in Cochrane acupuncture reviews. Although inclusion of these studies did not alter the results of the meta-analyses, comprehensive searches of the literature are important to avoid potential language bias. The identification and inclusion of eligible Korean trials should be considered for reviews of acupuncture.

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Heterogeneity in Search Strategies among Cochrane Acupuncture Reviews: Is There Room for Improvement?

Cited by 13 publications

References 28 publications

Reporting Quality of Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses of Acupuncture

Reporting Quality of Systematic Reviews/Meta-Analyses of Acupuncture

Cochrane Systematic Reviews of Chinese Herbal Medicines: An Overview

Impact of Including Korean Randomized Controlled Trials in Cochrane Reviews of Acupuncture

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