Analysis of practices to promote reproducibility and transparency in anaesthesiology research.

INTRODUCTION: Reliable, high-quality research is essential to the field of anaesthesiology. Reproducibility and transparency have been investigated in the biomedical domain and in the social sciences, with both lacking to provide necessary information to reproduce the study findings. In this study, we investigated 14 indicators of reproducibility in anaesthesiology research. METHODS: We used the National Library of Medicine catalogue to search for all anaesthesiology journals that are MEDLINE indexed and provide English texts. PubMed was searched with the list of journals to identify all publications from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2018. We randomly sampled 450 publications that fit the inclusion criteria for our analysis. Data extraction was then conducted in a blinded, duplicate fashion using a pilot-tested Google form. RESULTS: The PubMed search of these journals identified 171 441 publications, with 28 310 being within the time frame. From the 450 publications sampled, 444 full-text publications were accessible. The majority of publications analysed did not have a statement regarding availability of data (164/188), analysis scripts (187/188), or study materials (160/188). CONCLUSIONS: Anaesthesiology research needs to improve indicators of reproducibility and transparency. By making research publicly available and improving accessibility to detailed study components, primary research can be reproduced in subsequent studies and help contribute to the development of new practice guidelines.

Objective evidence of sleep disturbance in women with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Although sleep disturbance is considered a hallmark of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), objective evidence for sleep disturbance in patients with PTSD has been equivocal. The goal of the current investigation was to objectively examine sleep disturbance among women with PTSD in their home environment. Women with PTSD (n = 30) and a control group (n = 22) completed three nights of actigraphy monitoring. Results from actigraphy indicated that women with PTSD had poorer sleep efficiency, increased sleep latency, and more restless sleep. Actigraphy measures were moderately correlated with self-report sleep-log data, but were unrelated to scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The current study provides evidence that women with PTSD have objectively measured sleep disturbance in their normal environment at home. Disturbed sleep may have important implications for the health and well-being of individuals with PTSD.