The poor quality of published data prevents a proper assessment of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remedies for stroke, a study suggests.
Despite finding 11,234 journal articles on TCM post-stroke therapies, the researchers from Italy and China were unable to conduct a meta-analysis as intended. Thirty four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were found, but wide variation in the studies prevented them from being pooled. Moreover, all but one RCT reported results in favor of TCM, prompting the authors to suggest a “strong publication bias.”
“The key to lead to evidence-based practices is establishing a consensus on standardized relevant outcome measures and then designing and conducting appropriate RCTs that adopt those standards,” they wrote.
[Stroke 2009 Aug;40(8):2797-804]
Despite finding 11,234 journal articles on TCM post-stroke therapies, the researchers from Italy and China were unable to conduct a meta-analysis as intended. Thirty four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were found, but wide variation in the studies prevented them from being pooled. Moreover, all but one RCT reported results in favor of TCM, prompting the authors to suggest a “strong publication bias.”
“The key to lead to evidence-based practices is establishing a consensus on standardized relevant outcome measures and then designing and conducting appropriate RCTs that adopt those standards,” they wrote.
[Stroke 2009 Aug;40(8):2797-804]
No comments:
Post a Comment