scholarly journals Exploring reporting quality of systematic reviews and Meta-analyses on nursing interventions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease before and after PRISMA introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Sun ◽  
Xiaobin Zhou ◽  
Yan Yu ◽  
Haihua Liu
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Nursing Interventions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Meta Analyses

scholarly journals Acupuncture for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinke Huang ◽  
Min Shen ◽  
Xiaohui Qin ◽  
Manli Wu ◽  
Simin Liang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Methodological Quality ◽  
Risk Of Bias ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Complementary Treatment ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Quality Evidence

Background: Acupuncture may be an effective complementary treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of this study was to summarize the evidence provided by systematic reviews (SRs)/meta-analyses (MAs) on the effect of acupuncture on AD.Methods: Eight electronic databases were searched from their inception until October 19, 2020. The methodological quality, reporting quality, and risk of bias of the included SRs were assessed by the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews (ROBIS) tool, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Moreover, the evidence quality of the outcome measures was assessed by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE).Results: Eleven SRs/MAs met all inclusion criteria. According to the results of the AMSTAR-2, all included reviews were rated critically as being of low quality. With PRISMA, the reporting checklist was relatively complete, but some reporting weaknesses remained in the topics of the protocol and registration, search strategy, risk of bias, additional analyses, and funding. Based on the ROBIS tool, only two SRs/MAs had a low risk of bias. With the GRADE system, no high-quality evidence was found, and only seven outcomes provided moderate-quality evidence. Among the downgraded factors, the risk of bias within the original trials was ranked first, followed by inconsistency, imprecision, and publication bias.Conclusions: Acupuncture is a promising complementary treatment for AD. However, due to the low quality of the SRs/MAs supporting these results, high-quality studies with rigorous study designs and larger samples are needed before widespread recommendations can be made.

scholarly journals An Overview of Systematic Reviews of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanyang Liu ◽  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Jiahui Sun ◽  
Jiuxiu Yao ◽  
Lina Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Herbal Medicine ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽  
Methodological Quality ◽  
Efficacy And Safety ◽  
Quality Of Evidence ◽  
Chinese Herbal

Background: Multiple systematic reviews (SRs) have been conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here, we aim to perform an overview to assess the methodological quality and quality of evidence of the SRs to provide convincing data on the treatment of AD with CHM.Method: Six electronic databases including Chinese and English were searched, until April 31, 2021. Two researchers independently screen documents and extract data according to the predesigned rules. A Measure Tool to Assessment System Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2) was used to investigate the methodological quality, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to determine the quality of evidence for outcomes.Results: Twelve qualified SRs including 163 randomized controlled trials were reviewed. The methodological quality of the included SRs was considered extremely low assessed through AMSTAR-2. Compared with western medicines (WM) alone, CHM as an adjuvant treatment has shown significant effects in improving Mini-mental State Examination, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive, and Clinical Dementia Rating scores. The same is true for CHM alone. Regarding the effect on Activities Daily Living, neither the single CHM nor the combination with WM has an obvious effect. For the total effective rate, both single CHM and the combination with WM shown significant effects. Nine SRs suggested that CHM as adjuvant therapy or single-use had fewer adverse events than WM. Additionally, the quality of evidence for the main outcome was reviewed as low or extremely low according to GRADE profiler data.Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that CHM may be beneficial in improving the cognitive function of AD patients. However, we should be cautious about the evidence due to methodological flaws and low quality. High-quality RCTs are further needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of CHM for AD.

Effects of Exercise in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Alexandro Andrade ◽  
Thais Cristina Siqueira ◽  
Anderson D’Oliveira ◽  
Fábio Hech Dominski
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Umbrella Review ◽  
Disease Symptoms ◽  
Moderate Quality ◽  
Low Incidence ◽  
Meta Analyses

The authors aimed to provide an overview of the evidence on the effects of exercise in people with Alzheimer’s disease through a comprehensive review of the existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses. A literature search was performed in CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, and Web of Science databases according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The AMSTAR-2-Tool was used for the quality assessment. Twenty-three reviews fulfilled the criteria. Most of the reviews investigated the effects of aerobic exercise on Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. The largest effects of exercise were seen in terms of improved cognition by multiple exercises. The majority of the reviews were rated as being of moderate quality and none were classified as having high quality. Exercise is an effective way to treat Alzheimer’s disease symptoms and has a low incidence of related adverse events. As most reviews were evaluated as low-moderate quality, caution is needed in the interpretation of the results.

scholarly journals Overview of Meta-Analyses of Five Non-pharmacological Interventions for Alzheimer's Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liao-Yao Wang ◽  
Jian Pei ◽  
Yi-Jun Zhan ◽  
Yi-Wen Cai
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Acupuncture Therapy ◽  
Exercise Intervention ◽  
Cognitive Intervention ◽  
Grade System ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Pharmacological Interventions ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive memory deficits, cognitive decline, and spatial disorientation. Non-pharmacological interventions to treat AD have been reported in many meta-analyses (MAs), but robust conclusions have not been made because of variations in the scope, quality, and findings of these reviews.Objective: This work aimed to review existing MAs to provide an overview of existing evidence on the effects of five non-pharmacological interventions in AD patients on three outcomes: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), activities of daily living (ADL), and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive section (ADAS-cog).Methods: The databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science were searched to collect MAs of non-pharmacological interventions for AD. Two reviewers independently conducted literature screening, data extraction, and quality assessment. We assessed the quality of MAs with the Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2 and assessed the evidence quality for significant outcomes using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system.Results: We found 10 eligible MAs, which included between three (133 patients) and 15 randomized trials (1,217 patients), and five non-pharmacological interventions, namely, acupuncture therapy (40%), exercise intervention (30%), music therapy (10%), cognitive intervention (10%), and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) (10%). All the included MAs were critically low to low quality by AMSTAR 2. Acupuncture therapy and exercise intervention showed the preliminary potential to improve ADL and MMSE. rTMS and acupuncture therapy show benefits in decreasing ADAS-cog, and there were some evidence of improved MMSE with cognitive intervention. All these outcomes scored very low quality to moderate quality of evidence on the GRADE system.Conclusions: Non-pharmacological therapy shows promise for the treatment of AD, but there is still a lack of high-quality evidence. In the future, the quality of the original research needs to be improved, and strictly designed MAs should be carried out following methodological requirements.

scholarly journals Quality of Systematic Reviews of the Foods with Function Claims in Japan: Comparative Before- and After-Evaluation of Verification Reports by the Consumer Affairs Agency

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamioka ◽  
Tsutani ◽  
Origasa ◽  
Yoshizaki ◽  
Kitayuguchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Data Extraction ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Health Claims ◽  
Scientific Quality ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Product Effectiveness

Background: In Japan, a new type of foods with health claims, called Foods with Function Claims (FFC), was introduced in April 2015 in order to make more products available that are clearly labeled with certain health functions. Regarding substantiating product effectiveness, scientific evidence for the proposed function claims must be explained by systematic reviews (SRs), but the quality of SRs was not clear. The objectives of this review were to assess the quality of SRs based on the FFC registered on the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) website in Japan, and to determine whether the CAA’s verification report in 2016 was associated with improvement in the quality of SRs. Methods: We evaluated the reporting quality of each SR by the AMSTAR checklist on methodological quality. We searched the database from 1 April to 31 October 2015 as the before-SR and from 1 July 2017 to 31 January 2018 as the after-SR. Results: Among the 104 SRs reviewed, 96 final products were included: 51 (53.1%) were supplements, 42 (43.8%) were processed foods without supplements, and 3 (3.1%) were fresh foods. Of the 104 SRs, 92 (88.5%) were qualitative reviews (i.e., without meta-analysis) and 12 (11.5%) performed a meta-analysis. The average quality score of before-SRs and after-SRs was 6.2 ± 1.8 and 5.0 ± 1.9, respectively, a statistically significant decrease (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Overall, the methodology and reporting quality of after-SRs based on the FFC were poorer than those of before-SRs. In particular, there were very poor descriptions and/or implementations of study selection and data extraction, search strategy, evaluation methods for risk of bias, assessment of publication bias, and formulating conclusions based on methodological rigor and scientific quality of the included studies.

scholarly journals An Overview of Meta-Analyses of Danhong Injection for Unstable Angina

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxia Zhang ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Yanxu Chang ◽  
Yuefei Wang ◽  
Xiang Lei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unstable Angina ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Conventional Medicine ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Danhong Injection ◽  
Statistical Heterogeneity ◽  
Comprehensive Search ◽  
Meta Analyses

Objective. To systematically collect evidence and evaluate the effects of Danhong injection (DHI) for unstable angina (UA).Methods. A comprehensive search was conducted in seven electronic databases up to January 2015. The methodological and reporting quality of included studies was assessed by using AMSTAR and PRISMA.Result. Five articles were included. The conclusions suggest that DHI plus conventional medicine treatment was effective for UA pectoris treatment, could alleviate symptoms of angina and ameliorate electrocardiograms. Flaws of the original studies and systematic reviews weaken the strength of evidence. Limitations of the methodology quality include performing an incomprehensive literature search, lacking detailed characteristics, ignoring clinical heterogeneity, and not assessing publication bias and other forms of bias. The flaws of reporting systematic reviews included the following: not providing a structured summary, no standardized search strategy. For the pooled findings, researchers took statistical heterogeneity into consideration, but clinical and methodology heterogeneity were ignored.Conclusion. DHI plus conventional medicine treatment generally appears to be effective for UA treatment. However, the evidence is not hard enough due to methodological flaws in original clinical trials and systematic reviews. Furthermore, rigorous designed randomized controlled trials are also needed. The methodology and reporting quality of systematic reviews should be improved.

scholarly journals Quality of the Evidence Supporting the Role of Acupuncture for Stable Angina Pectoris: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Shen ◽  
Jinke Huang ◽  
Tao Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Angina Pectoris ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Stable Angina ◽  
Methodological Quality ◽  
Reporting Quality ◽  
Stable Angina Pectoris ◽  
Quality Reporting ◽  
Evidence Quality ◽  
Meta Analyses

Background: To systematically appraise and synthesize evidence, we conducted an overview of systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) on acupuncture for stable angina pectoris (SAP).Methods: Eight databases were searched for SRs/MAs of acupuncture on SAP. The methodological quality, reporting quality, and evidence quality were evaluated by Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system, respectively.Results: A total of seven published SRs/MAs met the inclusion criteria. According to the evaluation results of AMSTAR-2, two studies were considered as of moderate quality; the remaining five were considered as of very low quality. According to the evaluation results of the PRISMA checklist, only one study reported the checklist in its entirety, while others had reporting deficiencies. According to GRADE, a total of 18 outcome indicators extracted from the included studies were evaluated. The evidence quality was very low in three, low in three, moderate in eight, and high in four.Conclusion: Acupuncture may be beneficial for SAP from the currently published evidence. However, this conclusion must be interpreted cautiously due to the generally low methodological quality, reporting quality, and evidence quality of the included studies. More rigorous, more standardized and comprehensive SRs/MAs are needed to provide strong evidence for convincing conclusions.

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