CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 58Traditional Chinese Medicine StudiesComplementary and Alternative Medicine StudiesMedical Research and Treatments

Applying Evidence-Based Medicine to Traditional Chinese Medicine: Debate and Strategy

Shea, Jeanne L.·2006·The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
DOI 10.1089/acm.2006.12.255
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Drawing on recent paper published literature in both English and Chinese, this explores reactions to the evaluation of Chinese medicine using randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the standards of evidence-based medicine (EBM). The literature review revealed a few sources which contend that Chinese medicine should not be evaluated on the basis of RCTs, but a far greater number which advocate for applying RCT and EBM standards to Chinese medicine. This paper describes the position of the detractors and points out ways in which their arguments contain oversimplified representations of Chinese medicine, biomedicine, EBM, and RCTs. In describing the position of the proponents, the analysis outlines some of the numerous innovative techniques they are developing for dealing with issues of control and standardization in efficacy research. Overall, the analysis indicates that important refinements are being generated in Chinese medicine research and clinical trial design in response to the challenges posed by the forced encounter of these two paradigms.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1089/acm.2006.12.255

Cites

49 of 49 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Clinical practice in both biomedicine and Chinese medicine has increasingly become indexed to evidence-based criteria, following its institutionalization by the Chinese state through the Cochrane database project, promotion of scientific journals, and the institution of graduate courses in evidence-based medicine.

    “Clinical practice in both biomedicine and Chinese medicine has increasingly become indexed to evidence-based criteria, she points out, following its institutionalization by the Chinese state through the Cochrane database project, promotion of scientific journals (such as the Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine ), and the institution of graduate courses in evidence-based medicine.”

    From Indian Imaginaries of Chinese Success in the Global Herbal Medicine Market (2019) · cites this paper as Shea 2006, 258

  • Most Chinese medicine clinical trials tend to rely on biomedical diagnostic categories and fail to take theoretical constructs of Chinese medicine seriously.

    “Although some efforts have been made in this direction, most Chinese medicine clinical trials tend to rely on biomedical diagnostic categories and fail to take theoretical constructs of Chinese medicine seriously.”

    From Indian Imaginaries of Chinese Success in the Global Herbal Medicine Market (2019) · cites this paper as Shea 2006, 259-62

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Shea, J. L.
Affiliations
University of Vermont (US)
Corresponding author
Shea, Jeanne L.
ORCID
Shea, Jeanne L.
Venue
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2006-04
Volume
12
Issue
3
Pages
255-263
ISSN
  • 1075-5535 (ISSN-L)
  • 1557-7708
DOI
10.1089/acm.2006.12.255
OpenAlex
W1997440177
Cited by
58
References
49
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 8
FWCI
0.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Medical Research and Treatments
Keywords
traditional Chinese medicine, evidence-based medicine, randomized controlled trials, clinical trial design, biomedicine, research paradigms
MeSH terms
Humans, Medicine, Chinese Traditional, Peer Review, Professional Competence, Research Design, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome, Evidence-Based Medicine, Biomedical Research

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review