title: Appraising the quality of clinical practice guidelines in traditional Chinese medicine using AGREE II instrument: A systematic review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) published in journals and books using AGREE II instrument for further enhancing TCM CPG development.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search of relevant guideline websites and literature databases (including Chinese Guideline Clearinghouse, PubMed Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP Online Publishing Platform, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and SinoMed) was undertaken from inception to December, 2015 to identify and select CPGs related to TCM. Four independent reviewers assessed the eligible TCM CPGs using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument. Their degree of agreement was evaluated by intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 2380 citations, 115 TCM CPGs were included. The mean scores for each AGREE II domain were as follows: (i) scope and purpose (mean±SD=41.1±19.6); (ii) stakeholder involvement (mean±SD=37.6±15.1); (iii) rigour of development (mean±SD=20.1±10.9); (iv) clarity and presentation (mean±SD=33.3±15.4); (v) applicability (mean±SD=10.5±4.5) and (vi) editorial independence (mean±SD=11.4±7.6). Only 10% (n=12) TCM CPGs were rated as "recommended". The ICC values for TCM CPGs appraisal using the AGREE II ranged from 0.76 to 0.93.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The quality of TCM CPGs has remained suboptimal according to AGREE II instrument evaluation. The use of AGREE II in the development process ensures that these considerations are incorporated, and more efforts must be made to improve the quality of TCM CPGs. Therefore, an evidence-based method should be used, and reporting the full texts according to AGREE II checklists for the further TCM CPGs development to ensure the translation of evidence into practice.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Study and Evidence Based Medicine Institute of People's Hospital of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5980-4570
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yaolong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Gansu Rehabilitaition Center Hospital, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: School of Basic Medical Sciences, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yongfen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Clinical Study and Evidence Based Medicine Institute of People's Hospital of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Tiankang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Clinical Study and Evidence Based Medicine Institute of People's Hospital of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.|Evidence Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.|Key Laboratory of Evidence Based Medicine and Knowledge Translation of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Kehu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D001877:Books; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*