Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33350787›Full record

ArticleMedicine2020

ASF (a Compound of Traditional Chinese Medicine) in the treatment of patients with alcohol dependence: Study protocol of a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Xianting Liang, Xiaoyu Hu, Xia Zhang, Hongfang Fu

Open access · goldAbstract readClinical Trial Protocol
In one paragraph

Article in Medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. A comprehensive narrative review ofJournal of pharmaceutical analysis · 2026
    Review
  3. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Therapy.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025
    Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Xianting LiangHospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Xiaoyu HuHospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-6980-6673
Xia ZhangChengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Hongfang FuChengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China.
Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlcohol dependence is one of the biggest problems facing public health worldwide. Currently, it is an under-diagnosed and under-treated disease. Even when given treatments for addiction withdrawal, over 2/3 of patients who have undergone abstinence-oriented treatment will relapse in the first year. Therefore, it is necessary to find an efficacious way to prevent and treat alcohol dependence. ASF (a Compound of Traditional Chinese Medicine) has proven to inhibit the formation and expression of ethanol-induced behavioral sensitization and the development of conditioned place preference in mice. As an empirical prescription for abstinence from alcohol, ASF has long been used in clinical patients. However, the effect of ASF in humans has not yet been investigated. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of ASF for patients with alcohol dependence.

methodsThe effect of ASF will be studied in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. 82 outpatients and inpatients will be recruited and randomly assigned to treatment with either ASF or placebo for 6 weeks as a complement to cognitive behavioural therapy. The primary endpoints are the changes in the average daily alcohol consumption of the 2 groups before and after treatment and comparison of the scores of the psychological craving self-rating scale during the courses of treatment of 2 groups. The secondary endpoints include abstinence rates of the 2 groups during the follow-up period, days without consumption, and changes of Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores in 2 groups before and after therapy. DISCUSSION: This study is the first randomized controlled trial to investigate ASF in the treatment of alcohol dependence. ASF is likely to be a new and effective drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence developed from natural products with a low incidence of side effects or toxicity.

trial registrationRegistry number: ChiCTR2000039397.

Indexed as

Alcohol AbstinenceAlcoholismEpimediumZiziphusAdultCravingDiagnostic Self EvaluationDouble-Blind MethodDrugs, Chinese HerbalFemaleHumansMaleMedicine, Chinese TraditionalOutcome and Process Assessment, Health CareRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicDrugs, Chinese Herbal

Identifiers

PMID33350787
PMCPMC7769360
OpenAlexW3115484159

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.