The traditional Chinese medicine has played an important role in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Based on the role of traditional Chinese medicine in dealing with the previous epidemics and COVID-19, this paper analyzes the problems and challenges of current situation, and focuses on improving traditional Chinese medicine scientific identification, strengthening the construction of traditional Chinese medicine system, and increasing the intensity of Chinese and Western medicine and so on. In order to improve the cooperation mechanism of Chinese and Western medicine for epidemic prevention and control, and give full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the construction of national public health emergency system, this paper also gives ten corresponding suggestions.
Objective To investigate the accurateness and rapidity of information on SARS , and to provide evidence for decision-making in the construction of the public health information system of China, including information collection, identification and release. Method SARS related information was systematically collected, from ① databases including Medline, CBMdisc and Cochrane Library; ② official websites including WHO, MOH and CDC; ③ non-governmental websites including Sina, Sohu, Yahoo; ④ eleven Chinese Journals and ⑤ gray literatures, These evidence were graded based on their scientific sense, and were analyzed according to their rapidity of release. Results A total of 11 955 pieces of related information were collected. Non-governmental websites were the agents that released the largest number of information (46.7%). Regarding the scientific sense of evidence, hand searched journal was at the top of the evidence pyramid, and followed by Medline, gray literature, CBMdisc, official and non-governmental websites. Regarding the rapidity, official website achieved the most rapid information release, which was followed by nongovernmental website, journal, and database. 71.8 percent of information from official websites was in Chinese, while 65 percent was from database. Conclusions The SARS information from China has contributed enormously to the global information release. Although the amount and rapidity of the information were satisfied, management and deep processing of information should be improved.
In response to the public health emergency and other urgent needs, World Health Organization (WHO) developed the concept and methodology of rapid advice guidelines (RAGs) in 2006. Compared with the standard guideline, striving to minimize the risk of bias, the RAG shortens the time to 1-3 months from more than 2 years. This study introduces the background, definition, application condition and performing methods of RAGs, and uses an example to clarify it, thus to provide a reference for the guideline development of public health emergency and other urgent need in China.
Objective To evaluate the reporting quality of rapid guidelines on Chinese medicine responding to public health emergencies. Methods The databases of PubMed, Embase, CNKI, CBM, WanFang Data, and preprint platforms were electronically searched. A supplementary search was performed by navigating the websites and Wechat public platforms specific to guideline development and dissemination, health and medical governing bodies, and academic organizations of Chinese medicine. Only guidelines published within three months after the onset of acute respiratory infectious diseases were eligible. The database search settings were as follows: SARS guidelines up to May 2003, H1N1 guidelines up to August 2009, and COVID-19 guidelines up to April 2020. The report quality was assessed using the Reporting Items for practice Guidelines in HealThcare (RIGHT) and its extension for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Results A total of 50 rapid guidelines on Chinese medicine responding to public health emergencies were included, indicating a growing trend in the number of guidelines. The RIGHT items most frequently reported were item 1c (n=46, 92.00%), item 7a (n=47, 94.00%), item 13a (n=49, 98.00%). The items extended to TCM was generally frequently reported (≥50%). However, the ten key items related to evidence, recommendations, funding, and the declaration and management of interest were rarely reported. Conclusion Enhancing the reporting quality of rapid guidelines on Chinese medicine in response to public health emergencies requires methodological solutions. The development of such guideline reporting standards should consider the unique characteristics of public health emergencies and the special nature of Chinese medicine evidence.
The rapid development of medical informatization and continuous innovation of artificial intelligence have made it possible to analyze data and predict prognosis through making full use of data analysis or data mining methods in medical field, which can provide not only more accurate basis of diagnosis and treatment for patients but also important decision-making reference for the government and hospitals to allocate medical resources reasonably. As a classical model for processing time series data in machine learning, long short-term memory network can break through some limitations of statistics to process large and complex medical data. The current applications of long short-term memory networks in medical and biomedical fields can be mainly summarized as seven themes, including natural language processing, biomedical information, signals, motion, clinical medical records, hospital management, and public health and policy.
During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemics, universities take responsibility for the health of their students and epidemic control. Our urgent recommendation focuses on four key questions of emergency management in universities following rigorous evidence-based approaches and provides timely suggestions to university managers, academic faculties and student affairs managers. We recommend universities during the COVID-19 epidemics should: 1) suspend offline lectures; 2) provide proper health education on the disease; 3) encourage face masks, however oppose using N95 masks on the campus; 4) encourage hand hygiene and provide sanitizing products on the campus.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the research issues related to evidence quality grading methods for public health decision making. MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang Data, CBM and VIP databases were electronically searched to collect studies related to the application of evidence quality grading methods for public health decision making from inception to December 2022. The questions were constructed according to the SPIDER model. The quality of the included literature was evaluated by using the CASP checklist, and a three-level interpretation analysis of the questions on the application of quality rating methods for public health decision making was conducted using the thematic synthesis method to establish a pool of question entries. ResultsA total of 14 papers were included, covering seven countries. GRADE was the commonly used method for grading the quality of evidence. CASP evaluation results showed eight high quality studies, four medium quality studies and two low quality studies. The thematic synthesis method summarized 13 question entries in 7 categories. ConclusionThe existing methodology for grading the quality of evidence for public health decision making suffers from the diversity of evidence sources and the underestimation of the level of evidence from complex intervention studies.
Objective To provide evidence for the establishment and improvement of public health system in China by comparing national public health emergency system of some representative countries.Methods The principle and method of evidence-based science were applied to search and evaluate data from the official websites of China, United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore. The performance of each country’s public health emergency response system in SARS prevention and control, as well as their organization structure and mechanism were compared. The existing problems and corresponding countermeasures were then put forward. Results Public health system showed the best performance was in US, UK and Australia. The responding mechanism of Singapore was highly admired by WHO. The organization structure of China was similar to that of developed countries, but its performance was far lagged behind because of insufficient financial support, poor management and inefficient operational mechanism. Conclusions The public health emergency response system in China needs to be reformed by giving priority to mechanism reinforcement. Different models should be taken into account regarding different regional situations in China.