Investigation and Evaluation of Chinese Clinical Practice Guidelines Published in Medical Journals in 2019:Research Gaps

  Objective  To investigate the reporting of research gaps in Chinese clinical practice guidelines published in medical journals in 2019 and to make targeted suggestions for standardising and clearly reporting research gaps.

  Methods  We systematically reviewed Chinese clinical practice guidelines published in medical journals in 2019, extracted and analyzed information relevant to research gaps.

  Results  Of the 226 guidelines published in 2019, 27 guidelines (11.9%) reported a total of 78 research gaps, and the median number of reports was 2(range: 1 to 10). Of these guidelines, 11 guidelines presented research gaps in separate sections such as "problems to be solved" "priority suggestions for future research "or" suggestions for future research ", while 16 guidelines integrated research gaps into other sections, such as" summary" "discussion" or "epilogue". In terms of content, the main focuses are on efficacy (15.4%, 12/78), safety (12.8%, 10/78), new methods/solutions/technologies/products (10.3%, 8/78) and biomarkers (9.0%, 7/78). In terms of clarity, only 45 research gaps (57.7%, 45/78) were deconstructed to include 2 or more of these elements according to the PICO (P, population; I, intervention; C, comparison; O, outcomes) principles.

  Conclusions  The reporting rate and the clarity of research gaps in the 2019 Chinese guidelines need to be improved, and the location of research gaps is not fixed. It is recommended that guideline developers independently report on research gaps in the guideline and aim to make it standard, comprehensive and clear, so as to provide direction for future researches.