title: Assessment of the quality of pharmacoeconomic evaluation literature in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the quality of Chinese pharmacoeconomic-evaluation literature published between 2012-2014 retrieved from the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) in order to assess their adherence to recommendations of the Chinese Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Identified literature was screened according to pre-specified criteria to access legibility for inclusion. Each included piece of literature was systematically compared against the recommendations proposed by the relevant Chinese guidelines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After culling, 259 studies were included in the comparative analysis. When compared to a previous study evaluating the quality of similar literature published between 1997-2007, the results showed improvements in certain technical aspects over the years. Particularly, an improvement was observed in more diverse evaluation methods being used, increased use of cost-utility analysis (2.43% in 2012-2014 vs 0.26% in 1997-2007) and use of discounting (45% in 2012-2014 vs 4.35% in 1997- 2007). In addition, a small number of studies were starting to apply modeling.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of economic evaluation literature has improved in recent years, with more researchers realizing the importance and necessity of using discounting, sensitivity analysis, and modeling when conducting economic evaluation. This study also highlights certain important areas needing further attention when conducting economic evaluations in China. These include the ICER threshold of economic analysis, more detailed guidance in performing sensitivity analysis and modeling, as well as transferability of cost data across different regions. Overall, the results would support the positive contribution of the Chinese Economic Guideline in promoting economic evaluations in China.
authors.affiliation: a College of Business Administration , Shenyang Pharmaceutical University , Shenyang , Liaoning , PR China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a College of Business Administration , Shenyang Pharmaceutical University , Shenyang , Liaoning , PR China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: a College of Business Administration , Shenyang Pharmaceutical University , Shenyang , Liaoning , PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: b Discipline of Pharmacy & Experimental Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences & Pharmacy , University of Newcastle , Callaghan , NSW , Australia.
authors.forename: Shu Chuen
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D002681:China; D017850:Economics, Pharmaceutical / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000639:trends*; D012107:Research Design
keywords: China; Pharmacoeconomics; comparative analysis; evaluation guidelines; literature review; quality