Assessing the quality of RCT on the effect of B-elemene, one ingredient of a Chinese herb, against malignant tumors
Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Elsevier
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Science
RAS ID
2753
Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for Elemene injections, one ingredient of Chinese herb Curcuma wenyujin, for malignant tumors widely used in clinical practice in China.
Methods: We used a systematic sample of 127 reports of RCTs that used Elemene injections as an intervention. The quality of each report was assessed using the number of Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) checklist items included, the frequency of allocation concealment and a 5-point quality assessment instrument (Jadad).
Results: 69.44% of the CONSORT checklist items was included in the reports. Only 2 (1.57%) RCTs reported allocation concealment by sealed envelopes. 123 (96.85%) reports described baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of each group. But only 5 (3.94%) of 127 RCTs reported statistics analysis results of baseline data. None of the reports stated in the methods section that intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was used, although 111 (87.40%) reports described the number of participants (denominator) in each group included in each analysis. Information regarding adverse events was reported in 83.46% of the RCTs. However the quality of reports were low as assessed by the Jadad scale.
Conclusions: The methodological quality of RCTs of Elemene injection against malignant tumors was low. Therefore, the effect of Elemene injection being used in clinical settings needs to be confirmed by further RCTs. Meanwhile, there is a need to supervise and urge researchers in China to conform to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and CONSORT guidelines when reporting.
DOI
10.1016/j.cct.2005.07.002
Comments
Peng, X., Zhao, y., Liang, X., WU, L., Cui, S., Guo, A., & Wang, W. (2006) Assessing the quality of RCT on the effect of B-elemene, one ingredient of a Chinese herb, against malignant tumors. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 27(1), 70-82. Available here