[The importance of case reports in current pediatric endocrinology and metabolism literature--the analysis of publications indexed in Medline in the years 2004-2009]

Abstract

Introduction: Case reports have been used as an educational tool in medicine for a long time, as they are usually the first kind of publications prepared by new authors. In compliance with the rules of the EBM, the evidence-based medicine, a clinical case report (which describes and analyses the manner of diagnosis and treatment) appears at the bottom of the hierarchy of scientific evidences. As a result, medical periodicals limit the publishing of case reports. The aim of the study is to assess how important case reports are in the modern pediatric literature, with special interests in endocrine and metabolic disorders.

Material and methods: Searching Medline over the last 5 years (October 2004-October 2009) using key words "case report" was performed. The limitations: "human", age "all children: 0-18 years" and the kind of publication: "case report" were used. For the huge number of publications found, the number and language of the publication was analyzed, and the first 100 free full-text publications in field of endocrine and metabolic disorders in English (from 2007-2009) were rated depending on the kind of case and aim of the publication.

Results: A total of 55379 publications classified by Pubmed as case reports were found, including 48805 English, 1592 Spanish, 1538 French, 794 German, 370 Polish, 356 Chinese, 265 Russian and 135 Italian. The published case reports were more often informative than educational in character. The content of the published case reports deals more often with the notification of a new mutation, less frequently presentation of an interesting, rare, unusual case or a new illness or the description of a novel therapy. Less often the published case reports appear to be of educational character or those concerning diagnostic problems or treatment failure.

Conclusion: Case reports remain an important contribution to the pediatric literature, mainly fulfilling an essential role in providing information about new medical problems. Medical literature published in Polish is relatively rich in clinical case reports. Publishing a case report in field of endocrinology and metabolism in Pubmed indexed journal is considered reasonable in situations where a new medical condition is being presented (most often a new mutation), a novel therapy has been discovered, the case is interesting or where the publishing of such reports fulfils didactic/educational needs.