Developing TCM clinical practice guidelines: A comparison between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine.

"6 Conflicts of interest management The management of conflicts of interest has an important impact on the objectivity, impartiality, and credibility of guideline development and should be properly managed throughout the guideline development process. Conflicts of interest can be broadly classified into financial and non-financial.12, 13, 14, 15 Financial conflicts of interest arise when members of the GWG have financial interests that may influence the development of guideline recommendations, including personal income, personal patents, research support, and funding (from individuals or institutions). A Cochrane systematic review found that financial conflicts of interest among guideline development members were associated with favorable recommendations.16 Non-financial conflicts of interest refer to conflicts of interest other than financial interests, such as situations where a GWG member holds a position as a consultant for a company or organization related to guideline development or has a family member with a disease related to the guideline topic. It is essential to manage conflicts of interest effectively throughout the guideline development process to maintain the integrity of the guidelines. In TCM, there are different schools of thought, including the Shang Han School, the Yi Shui School, and the Dan Xi School.17 As these schools may differ in the use of drugs and treatment approaches due to their different theoretical foundations, personal academic perspectives may cause bias in the development of recommendations and undermine the quality of the guidelines.18 Such bias can be considered a non-financial conflict of interest, or an academic conflict of interest. Some researchers believe that the impact of non-financial conflicts of interest on guidelines is likely to be greater than that of financial conflicts of interest.19 Therefore, the management and declaration of academic conflicts of interest (such as schools) should be emphasized in the process of CPG-TCM development. The severity of conflicts of interest is graded as follows: serious conflicts of interest, less serious conflicts of interest, and no conflicts of interest. For different grades of conflicts of interest, the solutions are as follows: (1) Serious conflicts of interest: if the member agrees, he/she can participate in the development of the guidelines after the risk of conflicts of interest is reduced to less serious by releasing the relevant interest; if he/she cannot release the relevant interests, he/she is not allowed to continue to participate in any part of the guideline development; (2) Less serious conflicts of interest: the member can participate in all discussions and provide relevant expertise; however, their participation in the voting of consensus recommendations, as well as the writing and co-authoring the guideline, requires approval from the Conflicts of Interest Management Committee; and (3) No conflicts of interest: the member may participate in any steps of guideline development. Conflicts of interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare."

"Funding National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2019YFC1712000)."