ObjectiveTo investigate the current status of systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) registered in PROSPERO by Chinese authors, in order to provide references for improving the registration rate and quality, and finally improve the quality of SRs/MAs. MethodsWe searched PROSPERO (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/) from inception to December 31, 2014, to identify SRs/MAs registered by Chinese authors. Two reviewers independently screened records and extracted data. Excel 2013 was used for data input and management, and Stata 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA). ResultsA total of 322 SRs/MAs were included. There was an increasing trend in registration number by year, and 60.6% was registered in 2014. The type of SRs/MAs was mainly the interventional (n=247, 76.7%). These SRs/MAs were related to 21 systematic diseases, and cancer ranked the top one (65, 20.2%). The authors distributed in 26 provinces, and majority of authors' institutes were "Evidence-Based Medicine Center". More than half (56.2%) of SRs/MAs were supported by fundings, but only 39.8% of SRs/MAs were performed cooperatively by two or more institutes. ConclusionThere is a rapid increase in numbers of SRs/MAs registered in PROSPERO by Chinese authors, but the absolute number is still small. The problems include the weakness of cooperative consciousness and lake of awareness in registering SRs/MAs.
ObjectivesTo analyze the cooperation and basic characteristics on systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) in diagnostic test registered in PROSPERO platform, in order to provide reference for registering and preparing the SRs/MAs on diagnostic test.MethodsWe searched PROSPERO platform from inception to November 12th, 2017, to identify SRs/MAs on diagnostic test. Two reviewers independently screened records and extracted data by the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The forest figure was prepared by STATA 13.0 software. The figure of network of authors, organizations and countries were prepared by NetDraw software.ResultsA total of 240 SRs/MAs in diagnostic test were included. There was a serious imbalance in the quantity of the distribution of authors (1 050), organizations (360) and countries (34). These SRs/MAs in diagnostic test were related to 21 systematic diseases, with cancer ranking the first (52, 22%). Tissue biopsy was the most used gold standard, and imaging diagnosis was the most used diagnostic test. The most commonly retrieved English databases were PubMed, EMbase The Cochrane Library, while the Chinese databases were CNKI, WanFang Data and CBM. The search strategy were reported in 105 (43.8%) SRs/MAs on diagnostic test. The QUADAS-2 was used to assess the quality of included studies in 159 (66.3%) SRs/MAs in diagnostic test, and 105 (43.8%) SRs/MAs were supported by funding.ConclusionsThe absolute quantity of SRs/MAs in diagnostic test is still minimal. There are relationships among different authors, organizations and countries. The researcher should focus on the effective sizes and statistical methods in future.
ObjectiveTo systematically investigate the registration status, methodology and reporting quality of the systematic review protocols for animal experiment registered on PROSPERO platform.MethodsSystematic review protocols of animal experiments registered on PROSPERO platform were searched up to December 31st, 2019. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and performed a descriptive analysis of the methodological quality and reporting characteristics of the included studies.ResultsA total of 351 protocols from 50 countries were included, involving 22 diseases. The intervention measures were primarily "pharmaceutical chemicals". Only approximately 1/3 of the studies reported the search strategy from at least one database, approximately half of the studies were prepared to report heterogeneity analysis and publication bias, and only approximately 1/3 of the studies were prepared to report sensitivity analysis.ConclusionsThe quantity of systematic reviews of animal experiments registered on the PROSPERO platform is increasing annually, however, there are still some limitations in the methodology and reporting quality.