Introduction/Objective: To identify randomized controlled trials (RCT) relevant to the diseases of the respiratory system in several key Chinese Medical Journals.

Methods: Five leading Chinese Medical Journals and one key Journal of tuberculosis and respiration were handsearched. (Chinese Journal of tuberculosis and respiration, Journal of Clinical Medicine, Chinese Journal of Practical Internal Medicine, Chinese Journal of Internal Medicine, Shanghai Medical & Pharmaceutical Journal, New Drugs and Clinical Remedies.) RCT were defined according to the criteria of the Cochrane: the trial were definitely or possibly assigned prospectively to one of two (or more) alternative forms of health care using random allocation or some quasi-random method of allocation.

Results: A total of 120 RCTs (10.11% of the ll,874 articles) relevant to the diseases of the respiratory system were identified: 33 in COPD, 33 in asthma, 33 in respiratory infection, 18 in pulmonary tuberculosis, 3 in lung cancer. The intervention were Western medicine (79 studies), herbal medicine (16 studies), physiotherapy (13 studies), biologic therapy (5 studies), surgical treatment (2 studies), immunologic treatment (3 studies), oxygen therapy (2 studies), treatment management (1 study). 85% of all RCTs were published after 1990. Sample size range from 10 to 3965 patients.

Discussion: We have identified 120 RCTs from only a small number of Chinese literatures, further searching is needed. It shows that searching RCTs of Chinese Journal is important to ensure a reliable systematic review of respiratory diseases.