A Critical Assessment of the Quality of the Published Clinical Trials on the Effect of Herbal Products on the healing of Nipple Fissures in Lactating Women

Background & aim: Assessing the quality of studies is one of the basic principles of evidence-based medicine, which helps clinical experts to choose the best evidence among the published documents. Therefore, this study aimed to critically assess the quality of clinical trials published regarding the effect of herbal products on the healing of nipple fissures in lactating women.Methods: In this critical assessment, the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Central, ProQuest, Magiran, and SID were searched without a time limit until February 2025  The keywords of medicinal plant, complementary therapies, herbal therapy, herbal medicine, breast fissure, Sore nipple, nipple fissure, breast wound, and their Persian equivalents were searched. Finally, out of 783 searched articles, 21 clinical trials were critically assessed using the CONSORT 2010 checklist. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 25) and descriptive and inferential statistical methods.Results: Based on the critical appraisal of 21 reviewed articles, overall compliance of the quality of the articles with the CONSORT 2010 checklist was 63.1%. . The total mean score from the CONSORT Checklist 2010, with a score range of 13-29, was 23.5 ± 4.1. The greatest weakness of the articles was in the results section.Conclusion: The quality of the reviewed clinical trials published in relation to the effect of herbal products on the healing of nipple fissures was moderate. The authors and staff of the journals must evaluate and criticize the articles with the standard principles designed in the valid checklists before publishing them, so it is necessary to receive enough training in this field.

A Critical Assessment of the Quality of the Published Clinical Trials on the Effect of Herbal Products on the healing of Nipple Fissures in Lactating Women Keywords:

Clinical trial , Critical appraisal , Medicinal Plants , Nipple fissure