ObjectivesTo overview the systematic reviews of traditional Chinese herb injections for viral pneumonia.MethodsCNKI, CBM, WanFang Data, VIP, PubMed, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and EMbase databases were electronically searched to collect systematic reviews (SRs) of traditional Chinese herb injections for viral pneumonia from inception to March 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature and extracted data. Then, AMSTAR 2 was used to assess the methodological quality and GRADE was used to grade the outcome indicators of included SRs.ResultsA total of 10 SRs were included, containing six Chinese herb injections (Xiyanping injection, Yanhuning injection, Tanreqing injection, Reduning injection, Shuanghuanglian injection, and Chuanhuning injection). Five items of AMSTAR 2 were reported well, and two items were not reported in any of the included SRs, and the quality was unsatisfactory. The efficacy of Chinese herb injection was superior than that of western medicine in many outcome indicators, such as antipyretic time, the pulmonary rales disappearing time, and the total clinical efficiency. The quality of evidence ranged from medium to very low.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that the quality of SRs of Chinese herb injections for viral pneumonia requires improvement, and most of the results show that Chinese herb injections are more effective than western medicines.
ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical application and safety of Shenmai injection.MethodsWe collected clinical data of 30 012 patients using Shenmai injection from 26 hospitals nationwide from September, 2009 to June, 2013. The SPSS 15.0 software was used to analyze demographic characteristics, diagnostic information, and clinical application of the injection.ResultsAmong all patients, 14 270 were females (47.55%), 8 218 were aged 45-60 (27.38%), and 10 452 were aged 61-75 (34.83%). The primary use of Shenmai injection was as an adjuvant treatment of chemotherapy for cancer patients, and the top 3 cancers were lung cancer (1 533, 5.11%), breast cancer (1 509, 5.03%) and gastric cancer (847, 2.82%). The second important use of Shenmai injection was the treatment of coronary heart disease (5 703, 19.00%), of which the most common single dose was 50 mL (14 406, 48.00%), followed by 100 mL (10 804, 36.00%) and 200 mL (600, 2.00%). The solvents were used in 18 902 patients (62.98%), and the 5% glucose injection was used most frequently (84.64%). The adverse effects (AEs) rate was 0.15%, and 57.78% AEs occurred within 24 hours of infusion. The most common AEs were damage of the cardiovascular system, followed by damaging of blood system and respiratory system.ConclusionsShenmai injection has a wide range of applications and can be used in treatment of numerous diseases in the real-world, and the AEs have been linked to off-label uses.
Objective To systematically review respiratory muscle training (RMT) on respiratory functions of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods PubMed, EMbase and The Cochrane Library were electronically searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about RMT on pulmonary functions in patients with SCI from inception to April, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 11 RCTs involving 263 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, compared with conventional rehabilitation group, RMT effectively improved vital capacity (MD=0.41, 95%CI 0.12 to 0.69, P=0.005), inspiratory capacity (MD=0.35, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.65, P=0.02), maximal inspiratory pressure (MD=7.75, 95%CI 0.11 to 15.39, P=0.05) and maximal voluntary ventilation (MD=17.52, 95%CI 8.11 to 26.93, P=0.000 3). There were significant differences between two groups. Conclusion Current evidence shows that RMT can effectively improve the respiratory function of patients with SCI. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.
Using the AGREE Ⅱ standard, this paper interpretated from methodological perspective of the Korean Guidelines for Appropriate use of cardiac CT which was made by Korean Society of Radiology and the Korean Society of Cardiology.
It is a challenge for clinicians and diagnostic systematic reviewers to determine the best test in clinical diagnosis and screening. Meanwhile, it also becomes the new chance and challenge for diagnostic test meta-analysis. Network meta-analysis has been commonly used in intervention systematic reviews, which can compare the effect size of all available interventions and to choose the best intervention. Network meta-analysis of diagnostic test can be defined as comparing all available diagnostic technologies in the same conditions based on the common reference tests. In order to provide the guide for diagnostic systematic reviewers, we aims to introduce four methods of conducting diagnostic test accuracy network meta-analysis, and to explore two ranking methods of network meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy.
Mendelian randomization (MR) studies use genetic variants as instrumental variables to explore the effects of exposures on health outcomes. STROBE-MR (strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology using Mendelian randomization) assists authors in reporting their MR studies clearly and transparently, and helpfully to improve the quality of MR. This paper interpreted the STROBE-MR, aiming to help Chinese scholars better understand, disseminate, and apply it.
The PRISMA aims to enhance the transparency and reporting quality of systematic reviews. PRISMA 2020 is an update version of PRISMA 2009, which was published in BMJ in March, 2021. This article compared the PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA 2009, interpreted PRISMA 2020 with representative examples, aiming to help Chinese scholars better understand and apply this reporting guideline, thus to improve the reporting quality of systematic reviews.
Objective The current study aimed to compare the differences in clinical characteristics and prognosis of elderly patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection between patients who were vaccinated and those not and to explore the clinical significance of vaccination for the elderly.Methods A total of 92 elderly patients (≥60 years old) with SARS-CoV-2 infection who were admitted to Chengdu Public Health Clinical Center from December 10, 2020, to May 2, 2022, were included, and they were grouped according to whether vaccinated. The differences in clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, imaging, treatment, prognosis, hospitalization time, and nucleic acid conversion time between the two groups were compared in this study. Results A total of 92 elderly patients were included, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.3:1, and a median age of 66 (62, 71) years old. There were 79 patients in the vaccinated group and 13 in the unvaccinated group. The positive rate of total SARS-CoV-2 antibody in 92 patients was 91.3%, and those of IgG and IgM of SARS-CoV-2 antibody were 89.1% and 37%, respectively. The positive rates of total SARS-CoV-2 antibody and IgG of SARS-CoV-2 antibody in the vaccinated group were higher than those in the unvaccinated group (97.5% vs. 53.8%, 96.2% vs. 46.2%) (P<0.01), and COI values of total antibody, IgM and IgG were higher than those of unvaccinated group (P<0.01). The proportions of the initial symptoms of sputum, ground-glass opacity or patchy opacity involving both lungs in chest CT in the unvaccinated group were higher than those in the vaccinated group (P<0.05). The white blood cell counts and platelet counts in the vaccinated group were higher than those in the unvaccinated group, whereas the prothrombin time and D-dimer were lower than those in the unvaccinated group (P<0.05). COI values of total antibody in the 3-doses group were higher than those in the 2-doses group, and the white blood cell counts in the 3-doses group were higher than those in the 2-doses group (all P<0.05). During hospitalization, asymptomatic infection (58.2%) and general type (53.8%) was the most common in the vaccinated and unvaccinated group, respectively. Patients in the unvaccinated group were more likely to progress to severe status than the vaccinated group during hospitalization (15.4% vs. 0%, P=0.019). The unvaccinated group received more treatments of intravenous immune globulin, non-invasive and invasive mechanical ventilation, plasma after immunization of vaccine and convalescent plasma of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients than those of the vaccinated group (P<0.05). Patients in the unvaccinated group developed a higher proportion of respiratory failure, secondary infection, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and heart failure than in the vaccinated group (P< 0.05). The median lengths of hospitalization and nucleic acid conversion in the unvaccinated group were 22 (7, 32) days and 13 (2, 20) days, which were longer than those in the vaccinated group [8 (7, 12) days, 2 (2, 7) days] (all P<0.05). Conclusions Vaccination of SARS-CoV-2 can improve the positive rate of total SARS-CoV-2 antibody and IgG of SARS-CoV-2 antibody in elderly patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, milder disease status, and can shorten the time of hospitalization and nucleic acid conversion. These results suggest that the COVID-19 vaccine can reduce the disease and improve the prognosis in the elderly.