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Review
. 2002 Apr;27(2):117-21.
doi: 10.1054/jhsb.2001.0703.

Retrospective clinical studies in surgery: potentials and pitfalls

S Sauerland  1 , R Lefering, E A M Neugebauer
Affiliations
Review

Retrospective clinical studies in surgery: potentials and pitfalls

S Sauerland et al. J Hand Surg Br. 2002 Apr.

Abstract

As many surgical studies are performed retrospectively, it is desirable to improve the conduct, analysis and reporting of such research designs. This article reviews some of the most common forms of bias encountered in clinical research and outlines various types of study design and analysis that can help to minimize the amount of bias introduced into the results. We describe the advantages and disadvantages of 'raw' data analysis, stratified analysis, matched pair analysis and multivariate analysis, and apply them to an example of a hypothetical hand surgery study.

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Comment in

  • Retrospective clinical studies.
    Handoll HH, Madhok R. Handoll HH, et al. J Hand Surg Br. 2002 Oct;27(5):492; author reply 493. doi: 10.1054/jhsb.2002.0849. J Hand Surg Br. 2002. PMID: 12512516 No abstract available.

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