title: Oral Chinese proprietary medicine for angina pectoris: an overview of systematic reviews/meta-analyses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral Chinese proprietary medicine (CPM) is commonly used to treat angina pectoris, and many relevant systematic reviews/meta-analyses are available. However, these reviews have not been systematically summarized and evaluated. We conducted an overview of these reviews, and explored their methodological and reporting quality to inform both practice and further research.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included systematic reviews/meta-analyses on oral CPM in treating angina until March 2013 by searching PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and four Chinese databases. We extracted data according to a pre-designed form, and assessed the methodological and reporting characteristics of the reviews in terms of AMSTAR and PRISMA respectively. Most of the data analyses were descriptive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  36 systematic reviews/meta-analyses involving over 82,105 participants with angina reviewing 13 kinds of oral CPM were included. The main outcomes assessed in the reviews were surrogate outcomes (34/36, 94.4%), adverse events (31/36, 86.1%), and symptoms (30/36, 83.3%). Six reviews (6/36, 16.7%) drew definitely positive conclusions, while the others suggested potential benefits in the symptoms, electrocardiogram, and adverse events. The overall methodological and reporting quality of the reviews was limited, with many serious flaws such as the lack of review protocol and incomprehensive literature searches.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Though many systematic reviews/meta-analyses on oral CPM for angina suggested potential benefits or definitely positive effects, stakeholders should interpret the findings of these reviews with caution, considering the overall limited methodological and reporting quality. We recommend further studies should be appropriately conducted and systematic reviews reported according to PRISMA standard.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Diseases Centre, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China.
authors.forename: Guoyan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: jianping_l@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Diseases Centre, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100091, China. Electronic address: keji_Chen@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Keji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000787:Angina Pectoris / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Angina pectoris; Meta-analyses; Oral medicine; Overview; Proprietary medicine; Systematic reviews