Examining clinical capability of township healthcare centres for rural health service planning in Sichuan, China: an administrative data analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the clinical capability of township healthcare centres (THCs), the main primary care providers in rural China, as a basis for rural health service planning. DESIGN: Observational study of quantitative analysis using administrative data. SETTING: Three counties with low, middle and high social economic development level, respectively, in Sichuan province western China. PARTICIPANTS: 9 THCs and 6 county hospitals (CHs) were purposively selected in the three counties. Summary of electronic medical records of 31 633 admissions from 1 January 2015 to 30 December 2015 of these selected health institutions was obtained from the Health Information Centre of Sichuan province. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Six indicators in scope of inpatient services related to diseases and surgeries in the THCs as proxy of clinical capability, were compared against national standard of capability building of THCs, among counties, and between THCs and CHs of each county. RESULTS: The clinical capability of THCs was suboptimal against the national standard, though that of the middle-developed county was better than that in the rich and the poor counties. THCs mainly provided services of infectious or inflammatory diseases, of respiratory and digestive systems, but lacked clinical services related to injuries, poisoning, pregnancy, childbirth and surgeries. A large proportion of the top 20 diseases of inpatients were potentially avoidable hospitalisations (PAHs) and were overlapped between THCs and CHs. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical capability of THCs was generally suboptimal against national standard. It may be affected by the economics, population size, facilities, workforce and the share of services of THCs in local health systems. Identification of absent services and PAHs may help to identify development priorities of local THCs. Clarification of the roles of THCs and CHs in the tiered rural health system in China is warranted to develop a better integrated health system.

The effectiveness of treatments for Kashin-Beck disease: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of treatments for Kashin-Beck disease (KBD). METHOD: We searched PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Web of Science, SinoMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, reference lists and published systematic reviews and registries of ongoing trials through May 2015 for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of treatments for KBD. Outcomes of interest were pain, function, stiffness, overall clinical improvement, radiographic improvement (X-ray) and adverse events. Frequentist network meta-analyses were conducted using random-effects consistency model to assess the efficacy of treatments for KBD. RESULTS: Forty-four RCTs with 9815 participants were included in the review. In children or adolescents, selenium (risk ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.51-2.33), vitamin C (2.03, 1.40-2.95) and aspirin (2.14, 1.12-4.08) were effective for radiographic structure improvement. In adults, chondroitin plus glucosamine was the best for pain (standardised mean difference 1.46, 95% CI 1.07-1.85), followed by intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (IAH) (1.09, 0.70-1.48), chondroitin (0.84, 0.47-1.21), diclofenac (0.63, 1.18-1.08), naproxen (0.55, 0.12-0.98), meloxicam (0.52, 0.03-1.01) and glucosamine (0.40, 0.13-0.67) compared to placebo, with similar results for other clinical outcomes in adults. However, the strength of most evidence was limited by the small number of trials with low to moderate quality. CONCLUSIONS: Selenium supplement has demonstrated some benefits for structural improvement of the disease in children. Chondroitin, glucosamine, IAH and nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs are effective for symptom improvements of KBD in adults. Evidence of surgical and complementary treatments for symptoms and aspirin and vitamin C for structure has yet to be established.Key Points• There were 23 nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and surgical and complementary treatments assessed for Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) in randomised trials.• Among the 23 treatments, chondroitin, glucosamine, IAH and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs are more effective than placebo to relieve symptoms for adults with KBD.• Selenium supplement is more effective than placebo for radiographic improvement in children or adolescents.• The efficacy of surgeries, aspirin, vitamin C and complementary treatments for KBD has not been established yet.