Outcome Indicators in Randomized Controlled Trials on Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Vertigo / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveThis study analyzed the outcome indicators in randomized controlled trials （RCTs） on traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） treatment of vertigo， aiming to provide a reference for clinical trial protocol design and the establishment of core indicator sets for vertigo treatment. MethodCNKI， Wanfang， VIP， SinoMed， PubMed， Embase， and Web of Science were searched for the RCTs on TCM treatment of vertigo， and data extraction was conducted. ResultA total of 375 RCTs involving 33 593 patients were included， from which 482 outcome indicators were extracted， with a frequency of 2 715 and an average of seven outcome indicators used for each RCT. In addition， there were some differences in outcome indicators reported by different study groups. According to the functional properties， the reported outcome indicators were classified into nine domains： clinical symptoms and signs， TCM symptom efficacy， physical and chemical examinations， quality of life， mental health， safety events， patients’ satisfaction degree， long-term prognosis， and economic evaluation. The outcome indicators with higher frequency were clinical total effective rate， total TCM symptom score， occurrence of adverse reactions， dizziness handicap inventory （DHI） score， average flow velocity of the basilar artery， incidence of adverse reactions， average flow velocity of the left vertebral artery， average flow velocity of the right vertebral artery， plasma viscosity， and vertigo score. ConclusionThe outcome indicators reported by RCTs of TCM treatment of vertigo mainly have two problems： lack of unified standards and norms and insufficient attention to outcome indicators that can reflect the characteristics of TCM. The construction of the core indicator set for TCM treatment of vertigo should fully highlight the characteristic advantages of TCM and unify the standards and norms for the outcome indicators on this basis， so as to improve the quality of clinical research and the value of secondary research.

Randomized controlled trial outcome indicators of traditional Chinese medicine for gastrointestinal dysfunction in sepsis in recent two years / 中国中药杂志

The purpose of the study is to analyze the outcomes of randomized controlled trial(RCT) of Chinese herbal medicine formula(CHMF) in the treatment of gastrointestinal dysfunction in sepsis in recent two years. We systematically searched four Chinese databases, three English databases, and two clinical trial registries to analyze the reports of outcome indicators of clinical trials, and evaluated the risk of bias by using the ROB tool of Cochrane Collaboration. After screening, 55 clinical RCTs were included. The results showed that the current clinical studies of gastrointestinal dysfunction in sepsis reported the efficacy and safety indicators. The efficacy indicators included APACHE Ⅱ scores, gastrointestinal dysfunction scores, bowel sound scores, and inflammatory indicator such as C-reactive protein and procalcitonin. The safety indicators mainly include gastrointestinal reactions, skin reactions, and other adverse events and adverse reactions. However, there was no distinction between primary and secondary outcomes. The relevant indicators of health economics were not reported, and the quality of research methodology was poor. Therefore, we suggest that future researchers should be well prepared in the top-level design stage and actively construct the core outcome set, so as to improve the quality of clinical trials.

Situation analysis of outcome indicators of randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage in recent three years / 中国中药杂志

The study aims to analyze the outcome indicators of randomized controlled trial(RCT) of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage(HICH) in recent three years, and thus provide suggestions for the future studies in this field. Four English databases, four Chinese databases and two online registration websites of clinical trials were searched. The RCTs published between January 2018 and September 2020 were screened. The risk of bias was assessed and outcome measures were classified. A total of 151 839 articles were retrieved, of which 44 RCTs were included for analysis after screening. The outcome measures of the included RCTs were classified into 7 categories, among which the symptoms/signs category showed the highest reporting rate. National Institute of Health stroke scale(72.73%) was the most frequently reported outcome indicator, while the vo-lume of intracerebral hemorrhage determined by computerized tomography(36.36%) was the most frequently reported lab test outcome. Most studies collect the outcomes at the end of treatment, while 9 studies reported long-term outcomes 3 months or more after onset. Compared with those of international clinical trials, the application of some of the outcomes was reasonable, focusing on patients' symptoms, quality of life and objective outcomes. However, there were still several problems: unclear primary and secondary outcome measures, insufficient attention to long-term prognosis, insufficient attention to social function, few TCM outcomes, lack of measurement blindness and the use of unreasonable composite outcomes. It is recommended that researchers should rationally design the outcome indicators of clinical trials and develop the core outcome set.

Outcome indicators in randomized controlled trials on traditional Chinese medicine intervention for tension-type headache in recent five years / 中国中药杂志

To evaluate the application of outcome indicators in randomized controlled trials(RCTs) concerning the treatment of tension-type headache(TTH) with traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in recent five years, so as to provide a basis for the study of core outcome set(COS) for TCM intervention in TTH. The RCTs on TCM treatment of TTH in recent five years were systematically retrieved from CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, CBM, EMbase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov and China Clinical Trial Registry. After literature screening, data extraction and evaluation of the risk of bias, the outcome indicators in the included RCTs were subjected to qualitative analysis. The preliminary search yielded 19 042 articles, and 10 983 were left after the elimination of duplication. Finally, 52 RCTs(48 in Chinese and 4 in English) were included for qualitative analysis. The outcome indicators of RCTs included in this study were classified into seven domains: TCM syndrome, symptom and sign, physical and chemical detection, quality of life, long-term prognosis, economic evaluation, and safety event. The findings demonstrated that headache characteristic index in the symptom and sign domain was the index with the highest reporting frequency and reporting rate. Seventeen RCTs used TCM syndrome score as the outcome indicator. Further analysis revealed that there existed such problems in research design as non-distinction between primary and secondary outcome indicators, great difference in the adopted measurement tools for outcome indicators, and the neglect of measurement time of outcome indicators. Moreover, the syndrome indicators reflecting TCM advantages, objective evaluation indicators, safety and health-economic indicators were lacking. These limitations have affected the quality and reliability of RCTs on TTH treatment with TCM. It is suggested that the efficacy and characteristics of TCM should be combined into current clinical research, and the COS in RCTs regarding TCM treatment of TTH should be established according to internationally recognized standard procedures.

Analysis of clinical research outcome indicators of traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of diabetic foot / 中国中药杂志

To analyze the outcome indicators from the randomized controlled trials(RCTs) on traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) treatment for diabetic foot, and to lay a foundation for the establishment of the core index set of the clinical trials on TCM treatment of diabetic foot. Computer retrieval of RCTs on TCM treatment of diabetic foot was performed in CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed, PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMbase and Web of Science databases. Literature screening and data extraction were conducted independently by two researchers in strict accordance with inclusion and exclusion criteria. Any difference was resolved through discussion. A total of 72 RCTs involving 5 791 patients were included and 204 indicators were used. The number of indicators used in a single study was 2-22, with an average of 3 indicators used for each RCT. The indicators with top 16 frequency were clinical total effective rate, ankle brachial index(ABI), ulcer area, TCM syndrome integral, fibrinogen(FIB), fasting blood glucose(FBG), plasma viscosity(PV), c-reactive protein(CRP), saccharification blood of eggs(HbAlc), 2 h postprandial blood glucose(2 hPG), wound healing time, triglyce-rides(TC), TCM efficacy for syndromes, total cholesterol(TG), percutaneous oxygen partial pressure(TCPO2) and TCM symptom scores. The difference in selection of RCT indicators was large among TCM treatment methods for diabetic foot, and the combination of outcome indicators was arbitrary. The description on indexes was not standardized. Some non-laboratory examination indicators, some indicators not recommended in guidelines or not recognized in clinical practice, and some self-made indicators were not explained in detail. There was a lack of standardized evaluation criteria for indicators. The indicators had large time-point difference in measurement, and the time points were not distinguished in the measurement for diabetic foot patients with different degrees of severity. In addition, the patients with long course of treatment weren't timely measured. The characteristics of TCM or significant endpoint indicators were insufficient. It was urgent to establish the core index set of TCM in treating diabetic foot.

Randomized controlled trial outcome indicators of postmenopausal osteoporosis treated by traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

This study evaluated the outcome indicators of the randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis(PMOP) to provide a reference for the related research. Four Chinese databa-ses(CNKI, VIP, Wanfang and CBM) and three English databases(Cochrane Library, EMbase and PubMed) were searched syste-matically to screen RCTs of TCM in the treatment of PMOP according to the pre-set criteria, and the quality of the included trials was evaluated by the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. A total of 29 627 articles were initially retrieved, and finally, 43 articles were included, including 34 in Chinese and 9 in English. As revealed by the results, the outcome indicators of 43 RCTs were mainly divided into six categories, with biochemical indicators accounting for 54.59%, bone mineral density(BMD) for 26.57%, quality of life for 6.28%, fracture for 1.94%, safety for 5.31%(including adverse reactions or events) and others for 5.31%. Biochemical indicators showed the maximum occurrence, followed by BMD. Many problems were found in the selection of outcome indicators of the TCM RCTs in the treatment of PMOP, such as the confusion of primary and secondary outcome indicators, the lack of endpoint criteria and vital clinical outcome indicators substituted by intermediate indicators, inconsistent evaluation standard of syndrome curative efficacy and neglected blinding in the measurement of subjective outcome indicators. The problems also included importance given to the efficacy indicators instead of the adverse outcome indicators, unnormalized indicator name, large quantitative range of the indicators, unconventional application of TCM efficacy criteria, seldom used confidence interval, relative effect indicator and absolute effect indicator.

Analysis of status quo of outcome indicators of randomized controlled trials in treatment of acute ischemic stroke with acupuncture in recent three years / 中国中药杂志

To analyze the use of outcome indicators of randomized controlled trial(RCT) of acupuncture in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke in recent three years, so as to provide a basis for building a study on the core outcome indicators for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke with acupuncture. The RCTs of acupuncture treatment for acute ischemic stroke in recent three years were collec-ted through computer retrieval of eight Chinese and English databases and two clinical trial registries at home and abroad. Literature was screened out, and data was extracted. Risk of assessment bias tool Cochrane 6.1 was used for bias risk assessment, outcome indicators were summarized and analyzed. A total of 47 RCTs were included, and 3 studies were trials registration scheme. Outcome indicators were divided into 6 categories according to functional attributes, namely physical symptoms/signs, physical and chemical examination, quality of life, traditional Chinese medicine symptoms/syndromes, safety events and long-term prognosis. The study found that in addition to the common problems in previous studies covered by the status quo of outcome indicators selection of RCT of acupuncture in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, there were also the other problems as follows: emphasis on macroscopic efficacy indicators but neglect of acupuncture specific indicators, lack of characteristic indicators and economic indicators of traditional Chinese medicine therapy, and unification of indicators measurement tool and measurement time point. In the future, the outcome indicators set for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke with acupuncture shall be established, and the core outcome indicators set shall be in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine treatment.

Analysis of RCT outcome indicators of traditional Chinese medicine for essential hypertension in recent two years / 中国中药杂志

To find the status of outcome indicators reported in published randomized controlled trial(RCT) of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) for essential hypertension in the past two years, we searched for relevant information from four Chinese databases, three English databases and two clinical trial registries in this study, from January 2018 to September 2019. The outcome indicators of RCT were extracted and categorized from trials and the risk of bias was assessed by ROB tools from the Cochrane Collaboration. A total of 125 RCTs and 15 RCT protocols were finally included after study screening. The results showed that the RCT outcomes mainly included efficacy and safety outcomes. Efficacy indicators mainly included blood pressure measurement, quality of life assessment, blood biochemical indicators, urine analysis, arterial ultrasound, vascular endothelial function indicators, hematocrit, hemorheology indicators and other indicators. The safety indicators mainly included general physical examination items, heart, liver and kidney function tests, blood, urine, and stool routine examinations as well as adverse drug reactions/events. The current RCTs cannot distinguish primary and secondary outcomes, and the RCT protocols didn't report efficacy criteria clearly. They both didn't report health economic indicators and the methodological qualities were relatively low. In view of the current status on outcome indicators reported in TCM RCTs, constructing a core outcome set of TCM for essential hypertension and improving the methodology quality of RCTs will help to accurately reflect the actual efficacy of TCM intervention.

Evaluation of the outcome indicators of a Nutritional Rehabilitation Center in Eastern India

Background: Under the National Rural Health Mission all over India, in March 2011, the concept of facility-based dietary management in tertiary care hospital, which is named as Nutritional Rehabilitation Center (NRC), was started with the establishment of NRCs at district level. Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the outcome indicators of facility-based management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children admitted in the NRC, to identify the gaps in the NRC management of SAM, and to propose recommendations to bridge the gaps. Materials and Methods: This study is a hospital-based snap short study which was conducted in NRC, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Postgraduate Institute of Paediatrics, Sishu Bhawan, S.C.B Medical College, Cuttack, from 2014 to 2017. Patients >1 month and <5 years of age with SAM admitted to the NRC were included in the study. Results: A total of 353 children were included in the study. Mean age of the children was 12.4 ± 11.8 months. 83.6% of the SAM children were within 24 months. Mean duration of stay in NRC among all the admitted (353 children) SAM children over 3 years was 12.78 ± 7.07 days and mean duration of stay in the NRC among all the discharge cases (246 discharged children) was 15.7 ± 5.86 days. Case fatality rate was 1.5% for the year 2014–2015 and no death was recorded during the year 2015–2016 and 2016–2017. Average daily weight gain was 12.5 ± 5.61 g/kg/day. Conclusion: Implementation of the World Health Organization feeding guidelines resulted in adequate weight gain of inpatient malnourished children with adequate health-care services at the NRCs.

Oncology Advanced Nurses' Use of Outcome Indicators and Perception of Outcome Evaluation / 간호행정학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the use of outcome indicators and perception of outcome evaluation of oncology advanced practice nurses (APNs). METHOD: A total of 111 oncology APNs from hospitals which have over 400 beds were surveyed. The participants' use of outcome indicators and perception of outcome evaluation were collected using a questionnaire including 84 outcome indicators for APNs developed by Sung et al. and 13 items on APNs' contribution to the hospitals developed by Kleinpell (2005). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and chi2 test. RESULT: Twelve items out of 84 outcome indicators were used over 50% of the time and 57 items could be used in the future by the participants. Seven of the 10 top-ranking outcome indicators in use were education related and were also expected to be used frequently in the future. The score for participants' perception of outcome evaluation was average-high, 3.82 out of 5. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study show that the main outcome indicator for oncology APNs is education related, and thus the use of education related outcome indicators is recommended to make oncology APNs' activities be more visible.

Patient Satisfaction as an Outcome Indicator / 성인간호학회지

The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing patient satisfaction and to evaluate the utility of patient satisfaction as an outcome indicator. The study was conducted by mailed questionnaire. The subjects were 900 patients discharged from adult nursing units in a tertiary teaching hospital. On the discharge date, questionnaires were distributed by two trained research assistants. The questionnaire developed by the researchers was based on Larson(1996)'s study, and consisted of 71 items with the following components: overall satisfaction, domain-specific satisfaction(administration process, hospital facility and environment, nurses, and doctors), patients' loyalty(intention to use the health care service of the hospital in the future), recommendation to others, health benefits, and demographic characteristics. Each item was rated using a five point Likert scale ranging from '1=strongly disagree' to '5= strongly agree'. The response rate was 43%(387/900). The satisfaction level with the health care service was generally high. Perceived health status was the only significant factor influencing satisfaction level. Satisfaction with doctors contributed the most to explaining overall satisfaction. Overall satisfaction was significantly correlated with patient loyalty, recommendation, to other and perceived health benefit. It was found that the score of satisfaction was positively correlated with the score of loyalty, recommendation, and health benefit. Therefore, patient satisfaction seems to be a good outcome indicator.