Objective To explore ways and means to improve the investigator compliance through the evaluation and analysis of the investigator compliance of TCM clinical research projects of chronic diseases. Methods Totally 28 studies from the project Chinese medicine clinical study on prevention and treatment of chronic disease started in 2010 or 2011 and ended in 2015 were collected. The investigator compliance was analyzed by the evaluation form, which were drafted by quality control core team of TCM projects of chronic diseases, as research method performance, compliance of subjects inclusion and exclusion, integrity, accuracy and normalization of case report form in final quality evaluation for TCM clinical research on chronic diseases. Results There were 19 excellent studies according to investigator compliance, accounting for 67.9%, including 3 studies with ten score, accounting for 10.7%. There were 8 good studies according to investigator compliance, accounting for 28.6%. There was 1 study up to standard, accounting for 3.6%. 11 studies included unreasonable changes in the record during the process of implementation. 12 studies included missing in the filling of research records during the process of implementation. Conclusion In general, 28 studies of TCM linical research projects for chronic diseases show high investigator compliance. The existing problems are mainly found in the integrity and normalization of research records.

Optimization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinical trials as philosophy, process and method, is extremely necessary and can be applied in different levels. Optimization of TCM clinical trials should follow some principles and procedures, and be executed in two ways. Optimization of treatment plan should be supported by the research basis and literature experience, and be perfected by research group and experts argumentation. Optimization of design plan is modified and accomplished by expert discussion and repeated consulting multi-disciplinary experts. Specific research objective, exact target population definition, proper design plan selection, valid calculation of sample size, precise and appropriate main outcome measures, data management system, medical ethics and statistical analysis are the focuses.

The principle of TCM diagnosis standard is communicational convenience, and the international universal standard recommended by WHO should also be paid attention to. When there’s no corresponding standard, inferior standard is available, but self made standard is generally not accepted. It’s suggested to apply the same standard for one program. The standards include international standard, regional standard, domestic standard, industrial standard, provincial standard and enterprise standard, the hierarchies and levels of these standards reduce successively. It’s thought that medical standard consists of international standard (issued by WHO or set by international academic conference), domestic standard (set by government authorities, national academic organization and conference), diagnosis standard set by provincial academic organization and textbook standard by universities and colleges. A lot of literature network database, as well as ICD-10, therapy guide, professional periodicals, professional society website, and books could be used for searching. TCM clinical trials also cover syndrome diagnosis standard. The conclusion standard and exclusion standard setting and influence of improper standard setting is also discussed in this article.

TCM clinical investigators should attach importance to buildup of research basis in order to ensure the feasibility and normalization of clinical regimen,definite curative effect of treatment regimen and enhance consistency among different researchers and repeatability of clinical regimen.Syndrome,therapeutic method and prescription should be consistent,the addition or subtraction of the medicinal or the dosage should be reasonable.Reduce the use of rare or invaluable medicinal to avoid the restrictions of herb resource,drug cost and animal protection.When transforming decoction to capsule,granule,dripping pill and compound granule,the preliminary test in clinic to recur the curative effect of the decoction is necessary.The application of a single medicinal,the single target area of a medicinal or active ingredient of a single medicinal in a prescription should be based on the preliminary work experience.Meanwhile the county-level producing area of the processed medicinal should be explicit,in order to ensure the quality and efficacy of the processed medicinal.This article also discussed the key point of treatment regimen optimization of acupuncture and massage.

TCM clinical research covers different design types on basis of objective of the study. For exploratory research of TCM, cross-sectional study and descriptive research (e.g. case report and case analysis) is suitable. For hypothesis-testing research, RCT design is commonly adopted. RCT is most commonly used in activity or prevention therapy research, when using randomized cross-over design, the influence of sequence effects should be considered, and double-blind method is the best choice. Cohort study includes various intervention measures, as it doesn’t involve randomized allocation and blinding. Case-control study is widely applicable, but it may bring about bias. Cross-sectional study is much used in syndrome investigation of TCM clinical research. Descriptive research is available for summarization of TCM clinical experience and TCM exploratory research. Third party-central randomization system is recommended, as the randomization is not easy to be damaged. Randomization concealment should also be attached importance to. When blinding is impossible, blindness testing could reduce measurement bias, positive control should be supported high-level evidence. Placebo application could improve the level of evidence-based medicine.

Sample size design is to determine the minimum number of observed cases in the case of ensuring the reliability of research conclusions.The reliability of sample size estimation mainly related to the reliability of the basis of sample size calculation.Some things are essential,such as the emphasis on pre-test quality,extensive collection of relevant literature and research materials and accurate analysis.Estimation of sample size is first to determine the value of ?,?,or 1-? and effect indicators and their types,the effect indicators predictive value of each comparison group,the emphasis on sources and requirements of the effect indicators predictive value(the basis of calculation),besides,should pay close attention to study design and comparison of types,each group allocation ratio,the expected rate of lost to follow,the level of expected treatment compliance,the choice of some main effect indicators in outcome evaluation.An introduction and explaining with examples to estimation method and estimation of sample size formula,such as design of randomized controlled trials,cohort studies and case-control study commonly used in the clinical validation study of TCM,and study design commonly used in the clinical exploratory study of TCM,case analysis and so on.

Start with common problems in the quality control process of TCM clinical research,we summarize the problems in protocol execution,CRF fill-in,ICF signature,medication management,EDC management,lab examination and AE report; meanwhile we analyze the reasons and put forward the countermeasures for the optimization of TCM quality control.

Statistical analysis plan (SAP) is an important guidance document in clinical research which is intended to be a comprehensive and detailed description of the methods and presentation of data analyses proposed for a clinical research. The analysis plan will be completed after finalising the protocol and should be finalised before treatment unblinding, to provide full details, even to the extent of including templates of tables, listings and figures to be presented in the statistical report. Any changes between the methods in the protocol and analysis plan will be explained in the analysis plan. In order to improve the quality of TCM clinical research, it is need to optimize the SAP. Considerations in optimizing the SAP include: determine the analysis sets and analysis variables, select analysis methods and statistical software.

TCM clinical research should attach importance on ethical issues,as it takes the human for the research subjects and the clinical research activities definitely involve the benefits and risks to the subjects.Ethics optimization on the basis of safety and scientificity is necessary.This study explores the optimization of some key links of ethics of TCM clinical research,i.e.optimization of ethics committee membership,optimization of ethical review of study protocol,optimization of informed consent process,and optimization of protection and compensation of the subject,thus providing the theoretical support for ethics improvement of TCM clinical research.

Conducting quality monitoring to multi-center clinical research is an effective measure of quality control.This study explored the optimization of some key links of quality monitoring of TCM clinical research,i.e.optimization of CRA appointment,optimization of monitoring preparation,optimization of monitoring items,and optimization of monitoring feedback.For monitoring items,this study emphasized on research progress,protocol compliance,original data conservation,medication management,validity,CRF fill-in,informed consent singing and acquisition,EDC,traceability of lab examination,(severe) adverse event reporting in detail,thus providing the theoretical support for quality monitoring improvement of TCM clinical research.