Chinese research into severe ulcerative colitis has increased in quantity and complexity

Luo, Cheng-Xin; Wen, Zhong-Hui; Zhen, Yu; Wang, Zhu-Jun; Mu, Jing-Xi; Zhu, Min; Ouyang, Qin; Zhang, Hu

The 201 publications in Chinese journals on SUC compromised 96 original research articles (47.8%), 29 case reports and case series (14.4%), 18 reviews (9%), 25 conference papers, 7 graduation thesis and 26 papers that were published in journals of nursing. Of the 96 original articles, 65 (67.8%) have reported the adopted diagnostic criteria for SUC, which are diagnostic criteria in "Consensus on the Diagnosis and Management of Inflammatory Bowel Disease" that were developed and revised by Chinese Society Of Gastroenterology in 1978, 1993, 2000, 2007, or 2012 . In these consensuses, SUC is diagnosed according to Truelove and Witts' criteria (six or more bloody stools per day plus at least one of the following: temperature > 37.8 ℃; pulse rate > 90 bpm; hemoglobin ≤ 75% of normal; ESR > 30 mm/h). Above all, the severity of UC was judged according to Truelove and Witts' criteria in these Chinese hospitals, consistent with the criteria applied in Western countries. We included original research articles and case reports/case series in our analyses of the complexity of SUC research in each 5-year period, as described by Scott et al [20] . Articles on basic research were excluded to ensure that all articles included in our study were clinical in nature. The resulting 125 papers were classified into three groups (descriptive studies, observational analytical studies, and clinical trials). There was a significant increase in observational analytical studies and clinical trials, especially in the most recent 5 year period (P < 0.05) (