title: Epidemiology, quality, and reporting characteristics of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of nursing interventions published in Chinese journals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of nursing interventions have become increasingly popular in China. This review provides the first examination of epidemiological characteristics of these SRs as well as compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses and Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews guidelines. The purpose of this study was to examine epidemiologic and reporting characteristics as well as the methodologic quality of SRs and MAs of nursing interventions published in Chinese journals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four Chinese databases were searched (the Chinese Biomedicine Literature Database, Chinese Scientific Journal Full-text Database, Chinese Journal Full-text Database, and Wanfang Database) for SRs and MAs of nursing intervention from inception through June 2013. Data were extracted into Excel (Microsoft, Redmond, WA). The Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses checklists were used to assess methodologic quality and reporting characteristics, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 144 SRs were identified, most (97.2%) of which used "systematic review" or "meta-analyses" in the titles. None of the reviews had been updated. Nearly half (41%) were written by nurses, and more than half (61%) were reported in specialist journals. The most common conditions studied were endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, and neoplasms. Most (70.8%) reported information about quality assessment, whereas less than half (25%) reported assessing for publication bias. None of the reviews reported a conflict of interest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although many SRs of nursing interventions have been published in Chinese journals, the quality of these reviews is of concern. As a potential key source of information for nurses and nursing administrators, not only were many of these reviews incomplete in the information they provided, but also some results were misleading. Improving the quality of SRs of nursing interventions conducted and published by nurses in China is urgently needed in order to increase the value of these studies.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Electronic address: juxia2008@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Juxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center, Institute of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Jiancheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center, Institute of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Fengwa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Nursing Department, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Jianxun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Northwest University for Nationalities, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
authors.forename: Yuxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009729:Nursing; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D011643:Publishing / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
keywords: Chinese journals; methodologic quality; systematic reviews