[Methodological quality of articles on therapeutic procedures published in Cirugía Española. Evaluation of the period 2005-2008]

Abstract

Aim: To determine methodological quality of therapy articles published in Cirugía Española and to study its association with the publication year, the centre of origin and subjects.

Material and methods: A literature study which included all therapy articles published between 2005 and 2008. All kinds of clinical designs were considered, excluding editorials, review articles, letters to editor and experimental studies. Variables analysed included: year of publication, centre of origin, design, and methodological quality of articles. A valid and reliable scale was applied to determine methodological quality.

Results: A total of 243 articles [206 series of cases (84.8%), 27 cohort studies (11.1%), 9 clinical trials (3.7%) and 1 case control study (0.4%)] were found. Studies came preferentially from Catalonia and Valencia (22.3% and 12.3% respectively). Thematic areas most frequently found were hepato-bilio-pancreatic and colorectal surgery (20.0% and 16.6%, respectively). Average and median of the methodological quality score calculated for the entire series were 9.5+/-4.3 points and 8 points, respectively. Association between methodological quality and geographical area (p=0.0101), subject area (p=0.0267), and university origin (p=0.0369) was found. A significant increase of methodological quality by publication year was observed (p=0.0004).

Conclusions: Methodological quality of therapy articles published in Cirugía Española between 2005 and 2008 is low; but an increase tendency with statistical significance was observed.