METHODS: Five electronic databases were used to search for relevant articles published until 2019. All calculations were conducted using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software. We included 108 eligible articles (172 studies by sex, 95 studies by regions, and 107 studies by study type) and an overall sample size of > 808,505 participants.
RESULTS: The pooled prevalence of hyperuricemia among the general population in mainland China was 17.4% (95% CI: 15.8-19.1%). Our subgroup analysis indicated that the pooled prevalence by regions ranged from 15.5 to 24.6%. Those living Northeast region and being males had the highest prevalence (P 20%), particularly in males. An increasing prevalence was reported since 2005-2009 until 2015-2019. No publication of bias was observed as indicated by a symmetrical funnel plot and Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation (P = 0.392).
CONCLUSION: Prevalence of hyperuricemia is increasing in China, and future studies should investigate the association between the prevalence of hyperuricemia and its risk factors in order to tackle the issue, particularly among the vulnerable groups. Also, our study was the first comprehensive study to investigate the overall prevalence of hyperuricemia in mainland China covering the six different regions.
DATA SOURCES: None.
STUDY SELECTION: Current literature describing the conduct, reporting, and appraisal of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
DATA EXTRACTION: Best practices for conducting, reporting, and appraising systematic review were summarized.
DATA SYNTHESIS: A systematic review is a review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant original research, and to collect and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review. Critical appraisal methods address both the credibility (quality of conduct) and rate the confidence in the quality of summarized evidence from a systematic review. The A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews-2 tool is a widely used practical tool to appraise the conduct of a systematic review. Confidence in estimates of effect is determined by assessing for risk of bias, inconsistency of results, imprecision, indirectness of evidence, and publication bias.
CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews are transparent and reproducible summaries of research and conclusions drawn from them are only as credible and reliable as their development process and the studies which form the systematic review. Applying evidence from a systematic review to patient care considers whether the results can be directly applied, whether all important outcomes have been considered, and if the benefits are worth potential harms and costs.
DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive study.
SETTING: Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
PARTICIPANTS: All patients with congenital facial cleft deformities from 2005 to 2019 were retrieved from the Plastic Surgery OR Registry. All characteristics in interest were individually tabulated and evaluated. Four cases were reviewed and discussed.
OUTCOME: Prevalence of true MCL.
RESULTS: Out of the 494 patients included in the study, only 4 (0.81%) were affected with a median cleft, and the prevalence of true median cleft was hence determined to be 3 (0.61%) among the cleft population.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of the true MCL is rare which makes it hard to categorize these clefts, and the surgical protocol needs to be established for the definitive treatment.