title: Using AGREE II to evaluate the quality of traditional medicine clinical practice guidelines in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate/assess the quality of the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) of traditional medicine in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched the literature databases WanFang Data, VIP, CNKI, and CBM for studies published between 1978 and 2012 to identify and select CPGs of traditional medicine. We used the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument to evaluate these guidelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 75 guidelines were included, of which 46 guidelines (62%) were on Traditional Chinese Medicine, 19 (25%) on Chinese Integrated Medicine, and 10 (13%) on Uyghur Medicine. Most traditional medicine CPGs published in domestic journals scored <20% (range: 0% to 63%). Eleven (14%) CPGs were developed following the methodology of evidence-based medicine. In each domain of AGREE II, traditional medicine CPGs performed clearly better than international CPGs. The same trend was seen in guidelines of modern medicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An increasing amount of CPGs are being published, but their quality is low. Referring to the key points of international guidelines development, supervision through AGREE II, cooperating with international groups and exploring the strategy of guideline development could improve the quality of CPGs on traditional medicine.
authors.affiliation: The Second Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Zixia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiaonan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: The Second Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Ziye
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center/Chinese GRADE Center/School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Dang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center/Chinese GRADE Center/School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center/Chinese GRADE Center/School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Evidence-Based Medicine Center/Chinese GRADE Center/School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730000, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Acupuncture and Tuina College, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, China.|Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of TCM, Shanghai, 201203, China.
authors.forename: Guanghui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100700, China.
authors.forename: Yaolong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: AGREE II; Traditional Chinese Medicine; clinical practice guidelines; quality assessment; traditional Medicine