Evidence mapping is a new type of comprehensive evidence research method that systematically collects, evaluates, and synthesizes existing evidence to clarify research status and gaps, thereby promoting scientific research and decision-making. After nearly 20 years of development, the methodology of evidence mapping has been continuously improved, and has gained wide attention and recognition from the international community. China has paid much attention to evidence mapping at an early stage, but there are relatively few theoretical and practical researches, and the concept definition is inconsistent. This paper introduces the methodology of evidence mapping production and reporting for researchers to use for reference, with a view to further promoting the research and development of evidence mapping in China.
Clinical practice guidelines will be incorporated in different evidence sources and evidence types, the research and exploration of multiple sources of evidence at China and foreign, this paper advocates the construction of both characteristics of multi-source evidence of traditional Chinese medicine, by combing 70 guide manuals, analyze the necessity and advantages of multi-source evidence construction, and further from the multi-source evidence source and evidence logic theory interpretation and application, in order to provide methodological references for the formulation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines of traditional Chinese medicine.
Objective To identify, describe, and evaluate the evidence of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) interventions for cancer-related fatigue (CRF) using an evidence mapping approach. Methods The CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases were electronically searched to collect studies on TCM interventions for CRF from inception to June 4, 2024. Evidence mapping was employed to present the characteristics of study populations, interventions, studies included in systematic review/meta-analysis (SR/MA), and conclusions. Results A total of 94 randomized controlled trials (RCT) and 17 SR/MA/network MA were included. The number of publications has shown an overall fluctuating upward trend in the past 15 years. The RCT included literature with a high focus on mixed cancers, involving a total of 51 TCM therapeutic measures, including 40 herbal treatments, 5 external TCM treatments, and 5 TCM integrative therapies. The outcome indicators were classified into 14 categories, with the most frequent ones being CRF scores, TCM syndrome scores, clinical efficacy, quality of life scores, immune function indicators, adverse event rates, and serum indicators. The SR/MA included 7-81 original studies with sample sizes of 551-7 547 cases, involving 5 intervention measures: herbal medicine (9 studies), moxibustion (3 studies), TCM injection (2 studies), moxibustion (2 studies), and acupuncture (1 study). The quality of RCT and SR/MA was generally low, and the evidence quality was low. Most studies showed that TCM interventions for CRF had potential efficacy, but there was still a lack of definitive clinical evidence. Conclusion The results suggest that TCM interventions for CRF have advantages but also problems. There is still a lack of high-quality research. More large-sample, multicenter RCT and high-quality SR/MA are needed to further explore the advantages of TCM interventions for CRF and provide strong support for the effectiveness and safety of TCM interventions for CRF.