Evaluation of the report quality of Chinese and English randomized controlled trials of acupuncture based on CONSORT statement and STRICTA checklist / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the report quality of Chinese and English randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture based on the CONSORT statement and STRICTA checklist.@*METHODS@#The Chinese and English RCTs of acupuncture published from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019 were searched in 7 databases including PubMed. The report quality of the included RCTs was evaluated with the CONSORT 2010 statement and STRICTA checklist.@*RESULTS@#A total of 506 Chinese RCTs and 76 English RCTs were included. According to the CONSORT statement, in Chinese RCTs, the items with report rate less than 50% accounted for 78.38% of all items, and the report rate of 25 items, such as background and reason, study design, outcome index, and sample size, was less than 10%. In English RCTs, the items with report rate less than 50% accounted for 35.14% of all items, and 5 items had a report rate of less than 10%. The difference of the report rate of 15 items, such as background, reason and study design, was more than 50% between Chinese and English RCTs. The report rate of all items of STRICTA checklist was relatively high in both Chinese and English RCTs. In Chinese RCTs, the items with report rate less than 50% accounted for 29.41% of all items, which included acupuncture rationale and depth of insertion. In English RCTs, only two items had a report rate less than 50%, which were acupuncture rationale, setting and context of treatment. The report rate of five items, including needle retention time, frequency and duration of treatment sessions, details of other interventions administered to the acupuncture group, setting and context of treatment, and precise description of the control or comparator in Chinese RCTs, were higher than in English RCTs.@*CONCLUSION@#The report quality of Chinese acupuncture RCT needs to be improved urgently, and corresponding measures should be taken to further standardize the writing and reporting of acupuncture clinical research.

Drafting reports of clinical studies / 上海预防医学

Clinical research reports serve as the presentation of scientific research findings and directly reflect the quality of the research. This article describes the writing of different types of clinical research reports， such as observational studies and randomized controlled trial studies， with a particular focus on randomized controlled trials. Each scientific research design has its reporting focus， and the writing of scientific research papers has uniform requirements and a specific writing format. Mastering the proper format of drafting research reports is of practical value and significant importance for conduction high-quality clinical research.

Reporting quality of randomized controlled trials of acupuncture for cancer pain / 中国针灸

Based on the internationally-recognized Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) statement and Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA), the reported quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for cancer pain during last 10 years were evaluated. The RCTs of acupuncture for cancer pain were searched by computer. The English databases included PubMed and EMbase while the Chinese databases included CNKI, Wanfang, VIP and SinoMed. The publication date of the literature was from March 2009 to March 2019. As a result, 22 Chinese RCTs and 13 English RCTs were included. According to the CONSORT statement, among the Chinese studies, 1 RCT reported primary and secondary outcomes, 8 RCTs reported randomization, none of RCTs reported allocation concealment and blind method, and 4 RCTs reported baseline data; among the English studies, 8 RCTs reported primary and secondary outcomes, 8 RCTs reported randomization, 6 RCTs reported described allocation concealment, 7 RCTs reported blind method, and 13 RCTs reported baseline data. According to the STRICTA statement, among the Chinese studies, 17 RCTs reported the name of acupoints, 6 RCTs reported depth of insertion, 17 RCTs reported acupuncture response sought, and none of RCTs reported the qualifications of acupuncturists; among the English studies, 12 RCTs reported the name of acupoints, 7 RCTs reported depth of insertion, 8 RCTs reported acupuncture response sought, and 7 RCTs reported the qualifications of acupuncturists. The Chinese RCTs have more detailed description of acupuncture intervention and theory, but not enough attention is paid to methodological description such as randomization, blindness, data analysis. On the other hand, the English RCTs have better description of methodology, but the description of theory and details of acupuncture is relatively weak. It is concluded that more efforts were needed to further improve the clinical trial design according to the CONSORT statement and STRICTA statement to improve the quality of clinical evidence.

Reporting quality of RCTs of acupuncture for vascular dementia / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture for vascular dementia.@*METHODS@#The RCTs of acupuncture for vascular dementia were systematically retrieved from the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, SinoMed, VIP and Wanfang databases from the date of establishment to October 31, 2018. The reporting quality of RCT was evaluated based on the internationally-recognized Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) statement and Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA).@*RESULTS@#A total of 33 RCTs were included. According to the CONSORT statement, 12 items had a reporting rate of 0%, including important changes to methods after trial commencement, sample size, blind method, trial registry, etc.; 5 items had a reporting rate of below 10%, including trial design, type of randomization, random allocation sequence, randomization implementation and participant flow. The reporting rate was 36.36% for baseline data and 57.58% for randomization sequence generation. According to the STRICTA statement, the reporting rate was 21.21% for description of acupuncture depth, 60.61% for description of acupuncture response, 27.27% for description of additional intervention details and 0% for qualification of acupuncturists, respectively.@*CONCLUSION@#At present, the reporting quality of RCTs of acupuncture for vascular dementia is generally low. In the future, the RCTs of acupuncture for vascular dementia should be normatively reported according to the CONSORT statement and STRICTA statement.

Literature quality analysis of RCTs regarding acupuncture for chronic neck pain / 中国针灸

The internationally-accepted Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) and Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA) were applied to evaluate the literature quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding acupuncture for chronic neck pain in past 10 years. The literature of RCTs regarding acupuncture for chronic neck pain was searched by computer; the English literature was searched in PubMed and EMbase, while the Chinese literature was searched in CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP database and China Biomedical Literature Database. The literature published from January 2008 to January 2018 was searched. As a result, 29 Chinese articles and 10 English articles were included. According to CONSORT, among Chinese articles, 28 articles (96.6%) described baseline data, 23 articles (79.3%) described randomization, 0 articles (0.0%) described allocation concealment, 3 articles (10.3%) described blind method; among English articles, 6 articles (60.0%) described baseline data, 8 articles (80.0%) described randomization, 8 articles (80.0%) described allocation concealment, and 7 articles (70.0%) described blind method. According to STRICTA, among Chinese articles, 8 articles (27.6%) described needle instrument selection, 18 articles (62.1%) described needle depth, 24 articles (82.8%) described needling sensation, and 0 articles (0.0%) described acupuncturist' qualifications; among English articles, 5 articles (50.0%) described needle instrument selection, 8 articles (80.0%) described needle depth, 3 articles (30.0%) described needling sensation, and 4 articles (40.0%) described acupuncturist' qualifications. In conclusion, the reporting of acupuncture details in Chinese literature is superior to that in English literature, while the reporting of trial design in English literature is slightly superior to that in Chinese literature. Moreover, both Chinese and English literature need to further improve clinical trial design to improve the reporting quality of clinical evidence based on CONSORT and STRICTA.

Assessment of quality of reporting of Helicobacter pylori related randomized controlled trials: a focus on highly ranked gastroenterology journals

Background: Randomized controlled trials are often considered as the gold standard for measuring the effectiveness of an intervention. However, inappropriate or poor reporting in randomized controlled trials can produce biased estimates of treatment effects. Clinical trials that do not use the CONSORT statement for reporting their findings will have limited value to the clinicians and researchers due to the risk of bias in their results. This review aims to assess the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials in Helicobacter pylori associated infections by using the CONSORT 2010 checklist. Methods: All issues of 20 highly ranked gastroenterology journals published from Jan 2011 up to November 2017 were searched. Searches were conducted in November 2017. Randomized controlled trials reporting on Helicobacter pylori associated infections were included in the review. Results: 21 randomized controlled trials published in gastroenterology journals were included in the study. All included studies adequately reported (100%) on items including description of interventions, outcomes assessed, total number of participants analysed, baseline characteristics and results of outcome assessed. However, items including blinding and mechanism of allocation concealment were reported in only 12 randomized controlled trials (50%). The maximum and minimum scores and percentage of compliance of included randomised controlled trials were 24 (100%) and 15 (62.5%) respectively. Conclusions: The finding of this review suggests that the overall quality of reporting in the included randomized controlled trials was adequate. However, items including trial design, trial registration and protocol and sample size calculations should be reported adequately in the future randomized controlled trials to improve the quality of reporting and replicability of clinical trials.

Evaluation of reporting quality of RCT on nephrotoxicity of Tripterygium wilfordii preparations according to CONSORT HARMs statement / 中国中药杂志

To evaluate the quality of randomized controlled trials(RCT) on nephrotoxicity of Tripterygium wilfordii preparations according to the CONSORT HARMs statement. The report quality of each included study was evaluated according to the CONSORT HARMs statement， and the number of entries that comply with CONSORT HARMs statement was calculated in each study to evaluate the report quality on nephrotoxicity-related adverse reactions of T. wilfordii preparations and summarize the problems in domestic studies on nephrotoxicity-related adverse reactions. A total of 16 RCTs were included， with an average of 7 entries complying with CONSORT HARMs statement per study. The report of the nephrotoxic-associated RCT of T. wilfordii preparations was of poor quality and the most non-repeating entries included the following ones： using validated tools to report adverse effects， standards for coding of the adverse reactions， describing how and when to collect data on adverse reactions in Method， describing how adverse reactions are attributed to T. wilfordii， clearly stating who has reported the adverse reactions， describing the analysis method of adverse reactions， describing the method of collecting recurrent adverse reaction data， describing any subgroup analysis and exploratory analysis associated with the hazard. We suggest that the studies on adverse reactions of traditional Chinese medicine should strictly report the entries according to the CONSORT HARMs statement， and take the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine into account to report the details of the Chinese medicine like compositions， dose， taking time， combined medication and the dialectical typology of research objects.

Methodological quality and reporting quality evaluation of randomized controlled trials published in China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica / 中国中药杂志

To evaluate the methodological quality and reporting quality of randomized controlled trials(RCTs) published in China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica, we searched CNKI and China Journal of Chinese Materia webpage to collect RCTs since the establishment of the magazine. The Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of RCTs. The CONSORT 2010 list was adopted as reporting quality evaluating tool. Finally, 184 RCTs were included and evaluated methodologically, of which 97 RCTs were evaluated with reporting quality. For the methodological evaluating, 62 trials(33.70%) reported the random sequence generation; 9(4.89%) trials reported the allocation concealment; 25(13.59%) trials adopted the method of blinding; 30(16.30%) trials reported the number of patients withdrawing, dropping out and those lost to follow-up;2 trials （1.09%） reported trial registration and none of the trial reported the trial protocol; only 8(4.35%) trials reported the sample size estimation in details. For reporting quality appraising, 3 reporting items of 25 items were evaluated with high-quality,including: abstract, participants qualified criteria, and statistical methods; 4 reporting items with medium-quality, including purpose, intervention, random sequence method, and data collection of sites and locations; 9 items with low-quality reporting items including title, backgrounds, random sequence types, allocation concealment, blindness, recruitment of subjects, baseline data, harms, and funding;the rest of items were of extremely low quality(the compliance rate of reporting item<10%). On the whole, the methodological and reporting quality of RCTs published in the magazine are generally low. Further improvement in both methodological and reporting quality for RCTs of traditional Chinese medicine are warranted. It is recommended that the international standards and procedures for RCT design should be strictly followed to conduct high-quality trials. At the same time, in order to improve the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials, CONSORT standards should be adopted in the preparation of research reports and submissions.

Quality assessment of reports of clinical randomized controlled trials published in Chinese Journal of Dermatology from 2007 to 2016 / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective To assess the quality of reports of clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in Chinese Journal of Dermatology from 2007 to 2016,and to provide a reference for standardization of clinical paper writing.Methods Based on the consolidated standards of reporting trials (CONSORT) 2010 statement,an evaluation form was designed and used to assess the quality of the clinical RCT articles published in Chinese Journal of Dermatology from 2007 to 2016.Results A total of 94 RCT articles were enrolled,including 45 articles from 2007 to 2011,and 49 articles from 2012 to 2016.Among these articles,the writing of introduction and discussion parts was relatively standardized.In the method and result parts,the proportions of articles correctly reporting blinding (23 articles,24.47％),sample size (0 article),primary and secondary outcome measures (21 articles,22.34％),participant flow (0 article),loss to follow-up (32 articles,34.04％) and compliance (13 articles,13.83％) were low,while the proportions of those correctly reporting inclusion and exclusion criteria,intervention measures,statistical methods,starting and ending time of follow-up and baseline data were all over 80％.Conclusion Most contents of the RCT articles published in Chinese Journal of Dermatology are standardized and clear,but the reporting of blinding,compliance,sample size,participant flow and so on,is insufficient,and close attention should be paid to these items.

Academic level assessment of randomized controlled trial abstracts in papers on budesonid adjuvant therapy for children pneumonia / 中华医学图书情报杂志

Objective To assess the academic level of randomized controlled trial abstracts in papers on budesonid adjuvant therapy for children pneumonia and analyze its influencing factors. Methods The randomized controlled tri-al abstracts in papers on budesonid adjuvant therapy for children pneumonia were assessed according to the CON-SORT 2010 Statement and were statistically analyzed using the RevMan 5 . 3 . Results The items with a low reporting rate of the randomized controlled trial abstracts in the 282 papers included in this paper were "title judged as ran-dom","communication author","randomized","blind method","randomized grouping cases","fund-suppor-ted". Hierarchical analysis showed that the number of words in abstracts played an important role in affecting the reported items. Conclusion The academic level of randomized controlled trial abstracts in papers on budesonid adju-vant therapy for children pneumonia is significantly different from that of the abstracts in clinical papers according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement. Researchers should thus use the CONSORT 2010 Statement-defined items in writing their papers in order to improve the academic level and readability of their abstracts.

Impact evaluation of CONSORT and STRICTA guidelines on reporting quality for randomized controlled trials of acupuncture conducted in China / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate and compare the reports' qualities of acupuncture randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in China before and after the implementation of two guidelines, i.e., the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement and the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Proportions of studies that reported CONSORT and STRICTA items were compared for the years before and after implementation of these two guidelines. In addition, the total score of each item's reporting were calculated and reported differences during different date ranges were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>For CONSORT items (maximum score 8), there was evidence of a slight improvement in reporting between 1994-1995 and 1999-2000 combined (2.5±0.6) and 2004-2005 and 2009-2010 combined (3.0±0.9; difference 0.4, 95% confidence interval, 0.3 to 0.6, P<0.01). For STRICTA items (maximum score 17), there was evidence that a slight improvement in reporting between 1994-1995 and 1999-2000 combined (8.6±2.1) and 2004-2005 and 2009-2010 combined (10.1±1.8; difference 1.5, 95% confidence interval, 1.1 to 1.9, P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Quality of reporting for RCTs of acupuncture treatment conducted in China have generally improved since the introduction of the STRICTA and CONSORT guidelines.</p>

Analyzation of expressive elements for clinical RCT of acupuncture and moxibustion:taking peptic ulcer as an example / 中国针灸

To explore the expressive elements for the clinical randomized controlled trials of acupuncture and moxibustion so as to provide reference for them, taking peptic ulcer as an example. Sixty-six papers from 1996 to 2015 were collected in domestic and overseas databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WANFANG, VIP, China Biology Medicine (CBM), PubMed, Web of Science, Sciencedirect, Springer, Wiley. The expression qualities were evaluated according to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) and the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture(STRICTA). We consider that the reports are not sound, especially their preface, trial design and intervention.

Evaluation of randomized clinical trial papers published in medical sci-tech journals depending on 2010 CONSORT statement / 中华医学科研管理杂志

Objective To explore the quality of clinical trial papers published in medical SCI-tech journal.Methods A total of 1201 original research projects were published in 6 medical journals from Mar.2012 to Mar.2014 in China.Fifty-four of them were selected according to the key words randomizedcontrolled,and they were evaluated using 2010 CONSORT statement.Results In 54 articles,the section of background and abstract were described clearly and standardize.Fifty-one (94.44 ％)papers described intervention method in details.Thirty-five (64.81％) papers described the experimental design method.Thirty-one (57.41％) papers defined the primary and secondary outcome indicators,only 3 (5.56％)of them described distribution order,and the method of blindness.Four (7.41％) papers provides the information on sample size calculation.The using of flow chart accounted for 7.41％.Ten (18.52％) papers described the reason of drop out.Two (3.70％) papers evaluated the effect and accuracy,and the trial results were explained clearly and consider other evidences.Only 18 (33.33％) papers wrote the limitation of the studies.For other information of the studies,5 (9.26％) of them was registered somewhere,the information on funding support was on 20 (37.04％)papers.Conclusions The description on most RCT papers were clear and complete,but close attention should be paid to the method of blindness and sample size determine.

Role of Evidence Based Dentistry in Day to Day Dental Practice-Perception of Postgraduate Dental Students and Clinical Practitioners - KAP Study.

Aim: To assess and compare the knowledge, attitude and practice of dental practitioners and dental postgraduate students towards the practice of evidence based dentistry (EBD). Methodology: A random sample of 225 dental practitioners and postgraduate students were involved in the study. Participation was voluntary. A cross-sectional survey with self administered questionnaire was done. The questionnaire was loosely based on 3 categories; namely knowledge, attitude and practice. All questionnaire forms were distributed and collected by mail. Results were statistically evaluated using a t test. Results: Most of the general practitioners seem to be less familiar with the concept of Evidence Based Dentistry (EBD). The trend is more predominant with BDS practitioners. Despite majority of the participants being MDS or postgraduate students, only 28.62% of the participants were thorough with the concept of EBD with 68.9% of the participants having a fair idea about it. Among these practitioners, majorities are resorting to help and advices from friends or colleagues. 91.1% of the respondents have shown interest in improvising their knowledge by practicing evidence based dentistry. Conclusions: EBD is not a new concept but still most of the dentists are not familiar with. Majority of the dentists are even unaware of the terms used in EBD. Educational program regarding EBD targeted at general dentist population should be encouraged to enhance their knowledge and use of EBD in everyday practice.

The evaluation of clinical studies published in Chinese Pediatric Emergency Medicine during 2011 to 2015 according to CONSORT statement / 中国小儿急救医学

Objective To search and evaluate the quality of reports of clinical trial studies published in Chinese Pediatric Emergency Medicine according to CONSORT statement.Methods We collected all articles published in Chinese Pediatric Emergency Medicine from January 1,2011 to November 31,2015 through searching the WanFang Database,then evaluated and analyzed clinical trial studies.Results Among all 1317 articles we retrieved,62 (4.7％)of them belong to clinical trial study.According to CONSORT statement,all the articles satisfied items from 1b to 6b (including abstract,introduction,trial design,participants,interventions and outcomes),only 30(48.4％) and 4(6.5％) articles mentioned item 8a (method used to generate the random allocation sequence)and 8b(type of randomization;details of any restriction),respectively.None of the editors reported item 9(mechanism used to implement the random allocation sequence,describing any steps taken to conceal the sequence until interventions were assigned)and 10(who generated the random allocation sequence,who enrolled participants,and who assigned participants to interventions).Among 62 included studies,33(53.2％)studies concentrated on respiratory system diseases.However,studies about nervous system,circulatory system and digestive system were 5(8.1％),4(6.5％)and 4 (6.5％) respectively.Although all the results had statistical significance,only 38(61.3％),7(11.3％) and 5 (8.1％)mentioned randomization,follow-up and blinding respectively.Flow diagram was only included in one (1.6％) article.Conclusion The articles of clinical trial studies published in Chinese Pediatric Emergency Medicine did not take CONSORT statement as reference completely.

Reporting of Randomised Clinical Trials in Skull Base Surgery: A Fourteen-Year Review.

Skull base surgery has experienced dramatic advances in the last decade. Recently, various surgical disciplines have conducted reviews of quality of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). This is the first review to our knowledge regarding RCT quality within skull base surgery. Systematic review of skull base surgery RCTs published between 2000 and 2014 were conducted. Literature search provided 96 papers. Duplicates and trials which did not meet our inclusion criteria were excluded. This left 28 papers for analysis. A total of 1785 patients participated across trials. Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement (CONSORT) and Jadad scale were used assess to the quality of reporting. These were our main outcome measures. The mean CONSORT score prior to 2011 was 16.9 (n = 17, range; 13 – 22), and post 2011 was 17.5 (n = 11, range; 12 – 22). The mean Jadad score was 3.1 (n = 28, range 2 – 5). CONSORT were found to increase significantly with both increasing sample size (rho=0.467, p=0.012) and Jadad scores (rho=0.540, p=0.003). Linear regression showed CONSORT increase by 0.36 (95% CI: 0.02 – 0.70, p=0.041) for each additional 10 patients included, and by 1.50 (95% CI: 0.58 – 0.24, p=0.002) for each increase of one in the JADAD score. There are common omissions related to randomization, sample size calculations and availability of protocols. RCTs in skull base surgery are comparable to other surgical disciplines. We recommend utilisation of the CONSORT statement during protocol formation of RCTs to improve reporting of trials.

Quality Assessment of Randomized Controlled Trials on Treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Stationary Phase with Point Application / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To investigate the current situation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in stationary phase with point application, and provide evidence for clinical practice. Methods Such databases as CNKI, VIP, and CBM were searched from the establishment date to October 2011 to collect the RCTs on the treatment of COPD in stationary phase with point application according to the predefined inclusion criteria. And the quality was assessed by using the Jadad scale, the revised CONSORT statement and other self-defined indexes. Results Among 32 included RCTs, 1 literature scored three points, 8 scored two points, 23 scored one point according to Jadad scale, and no RCT performed the allocation concealment. According to the CONSORT criteria, only one can be prompted randomized trials from the title of the article, 23 from abstracts, 2 literature showed how to determine the sample size, 7 described the method to generate random allocation sequence, only 1 literature mentioned blind method, 15 literature explicitly mentioned syndromes. Conclusion Currently, the methodology and reporting quality of studies on the treatment of COPD in stationary phase with point application are not good enough to provide reliable evidence for clinical practice, and we should improve the quality of our clinical research.

Quality of abstracts for randomised controlled trials published in Journal of Clinical Anesthesiology based on CONSORT for Abstracts / 临床麻醉学杂志

Objective To assess the quality of randomized controlled trials(RCT)abstracts published in Journal of Clinical Anesthesiology by CONSORT for Abstracts.Methods Articles invol-ving human RCTs published from 2012 to 2013 were reviewed and searched through WanFang Med Online.Trials involving animal experiments,in vitro,RCTs without abstract,and meta-analyses were excluded.According to the CONSORT checklists for abstracts,the quality of abstracts for RCT were assessed.Results In total,392 RCT abstracts were analysed.The median word counts of ab-stracts was 364 (IQR 306-444),sample size was 60 (IQR 40-80).Almost all abstracts provided an appropriate description of conclusions (100%), numbers randomized (99.0%) and objective (99.0%).The majority of abstracts described interventions (94.6%)and participants (82.4%).Re-quirements present in less than 50% of the abstracts were details regarding trial design (46.2%)and harms (48.7%).The descriptions of randomization (13.3%),blinding (1.8%),methods-outcome (3.6%)and results-outcome (9.7%)were very low.Moreover,title,recruitment and numbers ana-lysed were not reported.Conclusion The quality of RCT abstracts and adherence to the CONSORT checklist for abstracts remains poor,and the CONSORT for Abstracts should be endorsed to improve the quality of RCT abstracts as early as possible.

Avaliação da metodologia em publicações descrevendo o projeto epidemiológico para pesquisa odontológica: uma análise crítica / Evaluation of the methodology in publications describing epidemiological design for dental research: a critical analysis

Introdução e objetivo: Descrever, analisar e revisar criticamente a metodologia empregada na pesquisa epidemiológica odontológica disponível em bases de dados eletrônicas, avaliando suas estruturas segundo a iniciativa Strobe e Consort. Material e métodos: As bases de dados eletrônicas ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus e Pubmed foram selecionadas para pesquisa de literatura, reunindo publicações na área epidemiológica odontológica usando os seguintes desenhos: transversal, coorte, caso-controle, descritivo, experimental e quase-experimental . Posteriormente, cinco periódicos específicos da área odontológica foram selecionados e tiveram seus resumos analisados ​​pelo critério Strobe and Consort statement. Resultados: De um universo de 10.160 artigos do Pubmed (o maior número), apenas 3.198 puderam ser classificados de acordo com seu desenho epidemiológico pela ferramenta de busca eletrônica em banco de dados. Os delineamentos mais comuns foram publicações transversais, coorte, caso-controle, descritivas, experimentais e quase-experimentais, mostrando uma tendência à ocorrência de vieses e fatores de confusão na pesquisa da literatura devido à falta de palavras na estrutura dos artigos. Embora as iniciativas Consort e Strobe tenham sido realizadas desde 2001 e 2004, respectivamente, algumas publicações não são adequadas para sua lista de verificação. Conclusão: As declarações Consort e Strobe devem ser reforçadas por periódicos odontológicos, editores e revisores para melhorar a qualidade dos estudos, tentando evitar qualquer tipo de viés ou fatores de confusão na pesquisa de literatura realizada por banco de dados eletrônico

Introduction and objective: To describe, analyze, and critically review the methodology employed in dental epidemiological research available on electronic databases, evaluating their structures according to Strobe and Consort initiative. Material and methods: ISI Web of knowledge, Scopus, and Pubmed electronic databases were selected for literature research, gathering publications in dental epidemiological area using the following designs: cross-sectional, cohort, case-control, descriptive, experimental, and quasi-experimental. Subsequently, five specific dentistry journals were selected and had their abstracts content analyzed under Strobe and Consort statement criterion. Results: From a universe of 10,160 articles from Pubmed (the greatest number), only 3,198 could be classified according to their epidemiological design by the electronic database searching tool. The most common designs were cross-sectional, cohort, case-control, descriptive, experimental and quasi-experimental publications, showing a tendency towards occurring bias and confounding factors in literature research due to missing words in papers structure. Even though Consort and Strobe initiatives have been accomplished since 2001 and 2004 respectively, some publications are not suitable for their checklist. Conclusion: Consort and Strobe statements must be strengthened by dental journals, editors and reviewers to improve the quality of the studies, attempting to avoid any sort of bias or confounding factors in the literature research performed by electronic database.

Tools for Quality Evaluation of Clinical Research Reports / 대한정신약물학회지

Quality of medical research reports should be evaluated before they are applied to clinical practice. Since 1990s, several guidelines on research reports were suggested. Most recently published Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement 2010 consists of 25 checklists and flow diagram for reporting an randomized controlled trial. Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology statement is a checklist of items that should be addressed in articles reporting on the observational studies in epidemiology. TREND statement for the reporting of nonrandomized designs consists of 22 checklists. The Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses checklist proposes to provide checklist and flow diagram for reporting of meta-analyses. The Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement proposes a checklist for compensating the study errors about observational studies in epidemiology. After development of reporting guidelines, improvements in the quality of reports are continuously reported, so using guidelines in the medical research will be expected to be more generalized.