Table 3.
GRADE evaluation form of evidence certainty.
| Patient or population: Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setting: Hospital | |||||
| Intervention: CPM + conventional western therapy | |||||
| Comparison: Conventional western therapy | |||||
| Outcomes | Anticipated absolute effects* (95% CI) |
Relative effect (95 % CI) | № of participants (studies) | Certainty of the evidence (GRADE) | |
| Risk with Comparator | Risk with CPM + Comparator | ||||
| Cure rate | 590 per 1,000 | 708 per 1,000 (613–814) | RR 1.20 (1.04–1.38) | 357 (2 two-armed RCTs) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.b |
| LOW | |||||
| Aggravation rate | 94 per 1,000 | 47 per 1,000 (27–80) | RR 0.50 (0.29–0.85) | 723 (6 RCTs) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.b |
| LOW | |||||
| Mortality rate | 14 per 1,000 | 7 per 1,000 (1–74) | RR 0.50 (0.05–5.49) | 295 (1 RCT) | ⨁◯◯◯a.c |
| VERY LOW | |||||
| The recovery rate of fever | 595 per 1,000 | 737 per 1,000 (458 to 1,000) | RR 1.24 (0.77–1.99) | 107 (2 RCTs) | ⨁◯◯◯a.b |
| VERY LOW | |||||
| The recovery rate of cough | 528 per 1,000 | 766 per 1,000 (592–998) | RR 1.45 (1.12–1.89) | 147 (2 RCTs) | ⨁◯◯◯a.b |
| VERY LOW | |||||
| The recovery rate of fatigue | 611 per 1,000 | 813 per 1,000 (629 to 1,000) | RR 1.33 (1.03–1.71) | 108 (2 RCTs) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.b |
| LOW | |||||
| Negative conversion rate of nucleic acid test for SARS-CoV-19 | 711 per 1,000 | 768 per 1,000 (669–882) | RR 1.08 (0.94–1.24) | 284 (1 RCT) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.c |
| LOW | |||||
| The recovery rate of chest CT manifestations | 406 per 1,000 | 536 per 1,000 (471–613) | RR 1.32 (1.16–1.51) | 639 (3 t RCTs) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.b |
| LOW | |||||
| The improvement rate of chest CT manifestations | 645 per 1000 | 774 per 1000 (678–884) | RR 1.20 (1.05–1.37) | 412 (3 RCTs) | ⨁⨁◯◯a.b |
| LOW | |||||
Factors of downgrade:
a. Risk of bias (high risk of detection bias and/or attrition bias).
b. Inconsistency (significant statistical heterogeneity and/or small overlap of 95 % CI of different trial results).
c. imprecision (small sample size or only one trial were included).
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence: High certainty (We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect) Moderate certainty (We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different) Low certainty (Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: The true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect) Very low certainty (We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: The true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect).
The risk in the intervention group (and its 95 % confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95 % CI). CI: Confidence interval; RR: Risk ratio; CPM: Chinese patent medicine; RCT: Randomized controlled trial.