Comment on 10.1186/s12985-023-02144-6
Concerns are raised regarding the article [1].
While the article [1] states both that “the FLOSAN trial recruited patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 from 12 hospitals in China, 3 hospitals in Thailand, and one hospital each in Vietnam and the Philippines between February and December 2022” and that “the FLOSAN trial was registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No.: ChiCTR2200056727)”; however, the actual registry record (ChiCTR2200056727) lists only one Thai hospital (Siriraj Hospital) and no hospital from the Philippines among the participating institutions.
In this study, 895 participants were recruited; however, how they were selected remains unclear. Nonrandom recruitment methods, such as the open‑advertisement approach used in another study by Zhong Nanshan's team [2], often introduce selection bias. The approach used to select these 895 participants should therefore be disclosed in greater detail.
Furthermore, the Lianhua Qingwen used in this study was provide the Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, which may cause conflict of interest. The outcomes of this study should be interpreted with cations.
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