Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Sep;19(3):170-9.
doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.121535.

An Exploratory Analysis of Levels of Evidence for Articles Published in Indian Journal of Palliative Care in the years 2010-2011

Senthil Paramasivam Kumar  1 , Vaishali Sisodia  1
Affiliations

An Exploratory Analysis of Levels of Evidence for Articles Published in Indian Journal of Palliative Care in the years 2010-2011

Senthil Paramasivam Kumar et al. Indian J Palliat Care. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Context: Indian Journal of Palliative Care (IJPC) provides a comprehensive multidisciplinary evidence base for an evidence-informed clinical decision making.

Aims: To analyze the levels of evidence of articles published in IJPC in the years 2010-2011.

Settings and design: Systematic review of palliative care journals.

Materials and methods: Systematic review of articles was done and was scored according to Center for Evidence-Based Medicine levels of evidence into any of the five grades. The articles were categorized based upon article type, number of authors, study approach, age focus, population focus, disease focus, goals of care, domains of care, models of care, and year of publication.

Statistical analysis used: All descriptive analysis was done using frequencies and percentiles, and association between all categorical variables was done using Chi-square test at 95% confidence interval (CI) using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 for Windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL).

Results: There was a greater prevalence of low level evidence (level 4: n = 46, 51%; level 5: n = 35, 39%) among the 90 selected articles, and article type (original articles with higher level of evidence, P = 0.000), article approach (analytical studies with higher level of evidence, P = 0.000), domains of palliative care (practice-related studies with higher level of evidence, P = 0.000) and models of care (biological or psychosocial model with higher level of evidence, P = 0.044) had a significant association with the grade of levels of evidence. Association with other factors was not statistically significant (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: The levels of research evidence for palliative care provided by articles published in IJPC were predominantly level 4 and level 5, and there is scope for more high quality evidence to inform palliative care decisions in the developing countries.

Keywords: Evidence analysis; Evidence hierarchy; Evidence-based palliative care; Journal analysis; Levels of evidence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of number of articles based upon number of authors per article
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of number of articles based upon the nationality of corresponding authors
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of number of articles based upon type of articles
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of number of articles based upon type of study approach
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of number of articles based upon study designs
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison of number of articles based upon study target population
Figure 7
Figure 7
Comparison of number of articles based upon study population focus
Figure 8
Figure 8
Comparison of number of articles based upon disease focus
Figure 9
Figure 9
Comparison of number of articles based upon goals of care
Figure 10
Figure 10
Comparison of number of articles based upon domains of palliative care
Figure 11
Figure 11
Comparison of number of articles based upon models of care
Figure 12
Figure 12
Comparison of number of articles based upon years of publication
Figure 13
Figure 13
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence
Figure 14
Figure 14
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and number of authors per article
Figure 15
Figure 15
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and nationality of corresponding author
Figure 16
Figure 16
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and article type
Figure 17
Figure 17
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and study approach
Figure 18
Figure 18
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and study population's age
Figure 19
Figure 19
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and population focus
Figure 20
Figure 20
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and disease focus
Figure 21
Figure 21
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and goals of care
Figure 22
Figure 22
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and domains of palliative care
Figure 23
Figure 23
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and models of care
Figure 24
Figure 24
Comparison of number of articles based upon levels of evidence and years of publication
Figure 25
Figure 25
Comparison of number of articles based upon study designs and years of publication
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Bhatnagar S. A new beginning to excel. Indian J Palliat Care. 2009;15:1. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tieman J, Sladek R, Currow D. Changes in the quantity and level of evidence of palliative and hospice care literature: The last century. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:5679–83. - PubMed
    1. Shaw S, Meek F, Bucknall R. A framework for providing evidence-based palliative care. Nurs Stand. 2007;21:35–8. - PubMed
    1. Areskoug Josefsson K, Kammerlind AS, Sund-Levander M. Evidence-based practice in a multiprofessional context. Int J Evid Based Healthc. 2012;10:117–25. - PubMed
    1. Rutledge DN, Kuebler KK. Applying evidence to palliative care. Semin Oncol Nurs. 2005;21:36–43. - PubMed