OBJECTIVES: As one of the published Pharmacoeconomics recommendations, China Guidelines for Pharmacoeconomic Evaluations 2020 (China PE Guidelines 2020) was methodological guideline for economic evaluations (EE). This study aimed to review the Chinese EE since 2016 with the criteria of China PE Guidelines 2020, and to observe whether its release was helpful for improving the study quality of Chinese EE.

METHODS: We systematically searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, VIP Database and China Biology Medicine disc. Studies were included if they compared costs and outcomes among different interventions. Study quality was compared using studies published before and after China PE Guidelines 2020 as two subgroups and studies related and unrelated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as two categories.

RESULTS: A total of 2,894 studies were included (published from January 1, 2016 to July 10, 2022), involving 2,383 (82.3%) and 511 (17.7%) published before and after China PE Guidelines 2020, respectively. The quality of TCM-related studies was better than that of TCM-unrelated studies in aspects of cost identification scope matching study perspective, health outcomes matching evaluation types, incremental analysis and uncertainty analysis. After China PE Guidelines 2020’s release, Chinese EE have significantly enhanced awareness of clarifying their study perspective (P < 0.001); and the clarity of TCM-related studies was much higher than that of TCM-unrelated studies (P = 0.005). An analogous change has taken place in the aspects of cost identification scope matching perspective, incremental analysis and uncertainty analysis. However, TCM-related studies focused on short-time research and less on correct discounting throughout.

CONCLUSIONS: The release of China PE Guidelines 2020 has played a positive role in improving the study quality of Chinese EE. To better support decision-making, it still remains to be upgraded. (This research was sponsored by Beijing Nova Program Z211100002121060 and Fundamental Research Funds for Beijing University of Chinese Medicine 2022-JYB-JBRW-003).