The rapid advancement of causal inference is driving a paradigm shift across various disciplines. "Target trial emulation" has emerged as an exceptionally promising framework for observational real-world studies, attracting substantial attention from medical scholars and regulatory agencies worldwide. This article aims to provide an introduction to CERBOT, an online tool that assists in implementing target trial emulation studies, while highlighting the advancements in this domain. Additionally, the article provides an illustrative example to elucidate the operational process of CERBOT. The objectives are to support domestic researchers in conducting target trial emulation studies and enhance the quality of real-world studies in the domestic medical field, as well as improve the medical service level in clinical practice.
ObjectiveTo select the key questions of the reporting quality of acupuncture therapy network meta-analysis. MethodsA question pool about reporting quality of acupuncture therapy network meta-analysis was conducted by preliminary literature research and qualitative systematic review. A correspondence questionnaire was designed and the selection of key questions was carried out through two rounds of expert consultation using the Delphi method. ResultsA total of 21 key questions were selected for the network meta-analysis report standard of acupuncture, including whether to report details of acupuncture interventions (e.g., needle type, acupoints used, number of needles inserted, depth of needle insertion, retention time, needling techniques, and treatment duration), diagnostic criteria for diseases or traditional Chinese medicine syndromes, and qualifications of acupuncture practitioners. Of these, the only three key questions answered by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and network meta-analysis (PRISMA-NMA) were summary, protocol and registration, and source of funding, while the remaining 19 were specific to acupuncture-related report standards. ConclusionThe conducted key question on reporting guideline of acupuncture network meta-analysis can improve the standardization and rigor of relevant research and better utilize its academic and clinical value.
ObjectiveTo investigate whether there is a causal relationship between the intake of milk or coffee and the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). MethodsUsing a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with milk or coffee intake were used as instrumental variables, and genome-wide association study data on NAFLD were used as the outcome event. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) and MR-Egger methods were employed to investigate the causal effect of milk or coffee intake on the risk of NAFLD. ResultsBoth analyses indicated no causal association between milk or coffee intake and the risk of NAFLD (P>0.05). Sensitivity analysis indicated the robustness of the main findings, with no outliers, heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, or significant influence of individual SNPs. ConclusionThis study does not support a causal relationship between the intake of milk or coffee and the risk of NAFLD.
In order to promote the harmonization of decision-making processes in public health and the harmonization of decision-making criteria, McMaster University in Canada and the Estonian Health Insurance Fund jointly published an article on an evidence ecosystem for health decision-making in 2022 with the support of the World Health Organization. Based on the proposed health decision-making evidence ecosystem model of the article, this paper interpreted the processes and elements in the model, aiming to provide reference for evidence-based public health decision making in China.
Statistical graph is an indispensable part of scientific papers. It is helpful to promote the communication, dissemination, and application of academic achievements by presenting research results intuitively and accurately through standardized and beautiful visual graphs. The safety of a medical intervention is the basic premise of its clinical application, and randomized controlled trial (RCT) as an important design to determine the efficacy and safety of medical interventions, it is extremely important to accurately present the information on the safety outcomes of interventions found therein. However, the research found that the reports of RCTs didn’t adequately use visual graphs to present harms data. In order to promote clinical researchers to better use visual graphs to present harms data, international scholars recently published a consensus study in BMJ, which identified and recommended 10 statistical graphs for presenting harms data in RCTs. In order to facilitate domestic scholars to understand and apply the consensus, this article interprets the consensus and recommendations, and it is expected to provide help for improving the quality of harms visualization in domestic papers of RCTs.
In response to the need for health economics modelers to apply more appropriate complex systems models to address complex challenges in public health, an international team of more than 40 experts in the field of complex systems models and economic evaluation has developed and recently published a guideline on the application of complex systems models to the economic evaluation of public health interventions. This paper introduces the development process and main content of the guidelines, which can provide references to facilitate the application of the guidelines by domestic researchers, aiming to ultimately improve the overall quality of public health research and services and improve the health of the population in China.
ObjectiveTo systematically sort out acupuncture therapy research report specification issues and provide a reference for the selection of key problems in the specification of acupuncture therapy network meta-analysis reports. MethodsComputer searches of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data, and VIP databases were conducted to collect studies related to reporting norms for acupuncture therapy, with a search time from inception to November 2022. Questions were constructed according to the SPIDER model and inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed. CASP was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included literature, and a qualitative systematic evaluation thematic synthesis method was used to analyze, summarize, and integrate the questions on reporting norms for acupuncture therapy research evidence to create a pool of question entries. ResultsA total of 66 papers covering four countries were included, including 17 papers from qualitative studies and 49 papers from quantitative studies. The CASP evaluation results showed that the overall quality of the included studies was high, and the quality of the English studies was higher than that of the Chinese studies. The thematic synthesis method resulted in 22 question entries in 7 categories. The 7 categories of questions included title, abstract, preface, methods, results, discussion and other report specification questions. The 22 entries included "Is there a need to report specific types of acupuncture therapy", "Is there a need to report based on the type of original study and its number", etc. ConclusionThere are many problems with reporting norms in existing acupuncture studies, so it is necessary to collate and summarize the key issues of reporting norms for acupuncture network meta-analysis to provide a scientific and theoretical basis for the development of reporting guidelines for acupuncture network meta-analysis.
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.
Clinical prediction models typically utilize a combination of multiple variables to predict individual health outcomes. However, multiple prediction models for the same outcome often exist, making it challenging to determine the suitable model for guiding clinical practice. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have evaluated and summarized prediction models using the systematic review/meta-analysis method. However, they often report poorly on critical information. To enhance the reporting quality of systematic reviews/meta-analyses of prediction models, foreign scholars published the TRIPOD-SRMA reporting guideline in BMJ in March 2023. As the number of such systematic reviews/meta-analyses is increasing rapidly domestically, this paper interprets the reporting guideline with a published example. This study aims to assist domestic scholars in better understanding and applying this reporting guideline, ultimately improving the overall quality of relevant research.