A Survey of Clinical Evidence Evaluation Systems for Traditional Chinese Medicine

Wei Zhang,Hongyong Deng,Xinfeng Guo

doi:10.1155/2021/8883921

Abstract

Objectives. We investigated the cognition and application of the “Evaluation System of Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinical Evidence” among populations with disparate backgrounds. Methods. We performed an online survey using a self-designed questionnaire. Results. Of 307 returned questionnaires, 284 were noted to be valid, and the effective recovery rate was 92.5%. Our analyses showed that the respondents demonstrated a better understanding of clinical evidence-based evaluation systems and that they used these occasionally. For both the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) evidence evaluation systems, the respondents generally showed poor overall understanding, rendering the systems impractical. Among the respondents who were exposed to the existing evidence evaluation system for TCM. More than 70% of the respondents remarked that it was difficult to obtain high-quality evidence using any existing methods to evaluate TCM clinical evidence, that there was a lack of clear evaluation criteria, and that it was difficult to grasp the evaluation process. Conclusions. The evaluation systems of TCM clinical evidence have gained a certain degree of recognition among practitioners, who show a great willingness to use it, but practical applications are limited. In addition, it is also expected that an evaluation system would be more in line with the clinical characteristics of TCM.

Highlights

Evidence provides the all-important basis for evidencebased decision-making, and it needs to be evaluated appropriately to create a reliable foundation for further study [1]
Based on the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical theory and practice, such as treatment according to syndrome differentiation and inheritance of ancient medical literature and famous experts’ experience, there are two developmental directions: the first is to adapt to the existing international evaluation standards to include the evidence types with TCM characteristics for evaluation and the second is to establish independent evaluation standards based on TCM theories [2]
Of the 284 valid questionnaires, 54 respondents had no knowledge of the “TCM clinical evidence evaluation/TCM clinical evidence evaluation system.”

Summary

Introduction

Evidence provides the all-important basis for evidencebased decision-making, and it needs to be evaluated appropriately to create a reliable foundation for further study [1]. High-quality evaluation of clinical evidence with respect to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) requires scientific evaluation criteria with TCM characteristics. Many domestic scholars have explored classification and recommendation systems with respect to TCM evidence over the past 20 years. With the rapid development of evidence-based medicine in China and the wide application of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) worldwide, many researchers have investigated the application of this system to evaluate the evidence regarding TCM [3]. With respect to the field of acupuncture, several research teams have combined the GRADE system with historical documents of TCM and well-known expert experience to establish an evidence evaluation system for clinical research on acupuncture. To better understand and apply the TCM clinical evidence evaluation system to the healthcare industry and to better promote the development of TCM clinical evidence-based evaluation, we organized and implemented the current survey questionnaire

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion