Chinese Publish Flawed Clinical Trials

Published clinical trials impact health care providers, consumers and policy-makers. New research shows many Chinese trials published as credible may not be fully accurate.

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are one of the most powerful research tools for assessing new medical treatments. The Chinese Cochrane Centre at Sichuan University, and the China and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute investigated the clinical trials published between 1994 and 2005 in China. Trained investigators interviewed the first or co-author of 2,235 trials by phone.

Researchers found 93 percent of the 2,235 RCTs were flawed, and fewer than 7 percent met the criteria for authentic RCT randomization. The large number of non-RCTs published as RCTs present the stronger need for quality peer review and for the general public to be aware of faulty trials published in Chinese journals.

SOURCE: BioMed Central’s open access journal, Trials