Assessment of the Reporting Quality of Randomized Controlled Trials on Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease with Traditional Chinese Medicine from the Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine: A Systematic Review

Background: Due to language limitations, little is known about the reporting quality of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine (CJITWM). Objective: In this study, we utilized the CONSORT 2010 statement to understand the reporting quality of RCTs on CHD with TCM from the CJITWM. Methods: The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) electronic database was searched for CJITWM RCTs on the treatment of CHD with TCM, published between Janurary 1, 2006 and December 31, 2011. We excluded articles reported as "animal studies," "topic review," "diagnostic test," "editorials," or "others." The CONSORT checklist was applied to evaluate the reporting quality of all eligible articles by two independent authors after extensive discussion. Each item was graded as either "yes" or "no" depending on whether the authors had reported it or not. Results: We identified 21 articles meeting our inclusion criteria. The percentage of 11 of the 37 items was 4.8 similar to 95.2%, 14 of the 37 items were reported in all included articles, while 12 items were not mentioned at all. The average reporting percentage for the "title and abstract" section was 52.4%, for the "introduction" section 100.0%, for the "methods" section 45.4%, for the "results" section 57.1%, for the "discussion" section 79.4%, and for the "other information" section 17.5%. Conclusion: In general, the reviewed RCTs were not consistent with the CONSORT 2010 statement. Authors should adhere to the CONSORT statement in reporting RCTs; editorial departments may consider the CONSORT statement as a guideline and should instruct authors to write manuscripts, and reviewers to judge them according to CONSORT statutes.