| Ref ID | 167 |
| First Author | S. Lui |
| Journal | ACUPUNCTURE IN MEDICINE |
| Year Of Publishing | 2010 |
| URL | https://core.ac.uk/download/56031.pdf |
| Keywords |
• Cochrane • Language • External validity • Complementary & Alternative |
| Problem(s) |
• Overly stringent inclusion criteria affecting external validity • Language restriction |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review |
| First Author Country | United Kingdom |
| Aim | To assess the completeness of search strategies of systematic reviews of acupuncture, an ancient Chinese intervention, published on the Cochrane Collaboration website up to February 2009. |
| Level of Investigation | Descriptive |
| Summary of Findings | Of the 48 completed Cochrane reviews only 13 (27%) of the included reviews and protocols searched Chinese language databases. The majority of the 48 full reviews (n=28), were inconclusive because of a lack of included studies to fully answer the research question. After stratifying on the use of Chinese databases, a greater proportion of the reviews which did not search Chinese databases were inconclusive as to the effectiveness of acupuncture (68.6% compared with 30.8%). 41.5% of the included articles had at least one Chinese speaking author. Two-thirds of the reviews and protocols (n=40) had the capacity or stated that they translated Chinese language abstracts to determine inclusion for the review. However, seven (10.8%) articles had a language restriction on the inclusion criteria and only reviewed English language articles. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 48 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 68 |
| Treatment impacted | No |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | Not Applicable |
| Interpretation impacted description |