Clinical Trials Registry in the Field of Rehabilitation Medicine / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Objective：To investigate the characteristics of studies registered in the field of rehabilitation medicine.Methods：The university hospital medical information network clinical trials registry database was searched for domestic clinical trials associated with rehabilitation medicine that were registered after June 2005. We extracted information about studies and analyzed their registration trends and overall characteristics.Results：Among the 21,410 registered trials, we found 529 trials associated with rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate efficacy in 65％ of the studies. Among these studies, 54％ were parallel-group comparison studies, 50％ were registered retrospectively, and 85％ did not publish any results. In comparison studies, 86％ were randomized controlled studies, and 47％ were open-label trials.Conclusion：An increasing trend of registration was observed. However, we found several problems in registration. Prospective registration is important to decrease publication and outcome reporting biases. Education for the relevant study protocol and registration might improve the quality of clinical study in domestic rehabilitation medicine.