Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014981

. 2017 Apr 27;7(4):e014981.

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014981.

Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature

Federico Germini^{1

2}, Maura Marcucci^{3

4}, Marta Fedele⁵, Maria Giulia Galli⁶, Lawrence Mbuagbaw^{7

8}, Valentina Salvatori⁹, Giacomo Veronese¹⁰, Andrew Worster¹¹, Lehana Thabane^{7

8

12

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.
² Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
³ Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.
⁴ Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
⁵ Department of Emergency, Area Nord, Azienda Unita Sanitaria Locale di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
⁶ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy.
⁷ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁹ General Practitioner Course, Regione Marche - Servizio Sanità, Ancona, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Emergency Medicine, Ospedale Niguarda Ca' Granda, Milano, Italy.
¹¹ Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹² Departments of Paediatrics and Anaesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹³ Centre for Evaluation of Medicine, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁴ Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 28450467
PMCID: PMC5566942
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014981

Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature

Federico Germini et al. BMJ Open. 2017.

. 2017 Apr 27;7(4):e014981.

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014981.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Emergency, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.
² Department of Health Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
³ Geriatric Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy.
⁴ Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
⁵ Department of Emergency, Area Nord, Azienda Unita Sanitaria Locale di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
⁶ Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italy.
⁷ Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Biostatistics Unit, Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
⁹ General Practitioner Course, Regione Marche - Servizio Sanità, Ancona, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Emergency Medicine, Ospedale Niguarda Ca' Granda, Milano, Italy.
¹¹ Division of Emergency Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹² Departments of Paediatrics and Anaesthesia, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹³ Centre for Evaluation of Medicine, St Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁴ Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 28450467
PMCID: PMC5566942
DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014981

Abstract

Introduction: The quality of reporting of abstracts of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in major general medical journals and in some category-specific journals was shown to be poor before the publication of the ConsolidatedStandards of ReportingTrials (CONSORT) extension for abstracts in 2008, and an improvement in the quality of reporting of abstracts was observed after its publication. The effect of the publication of the CONSORT extension for abstracts on the quality of reporting of RCTs in emergency medicine journals has not been studied. In this paper, we present the protocol of a systematic survey of the literature, aimed at assessing the quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals and at evaluating the effect of the publication of the CONSORT extension for abstracts on the quality of reporting.

Methods and analysis: The Medline database will be searched for RCTs published in the years 2005-2007 and 2014-2015 in the top 10 emergency medicine journals, according to their impact factor. Candidate studies will be screened for inclusion in the review. Exclusion criteria will be the following: the abstract is not available, they are published only as abstracts, still recruiting, or duplicate publications. The study outcomes will be the overall quality of reporting (number of items reported) according to the CONSORT extension and the compliance with its individual items. Two independent reviewers will screen each article for inclusion and will extract data on the CONSORT items and on other variables, which can possibly affect the quality of reporting.

Ethics and dissemination: This is a library-based study and therefore exempt from research ethics board review. The review results will be disseminated through abstract submission to conferences and publication in a peer-reviewed biomedical journal.

Keywords: Abstract; Accident & emergency medicine; Quality of reporting; Research methodology; Statistics &research methods.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1**
Flow diagram showing study selection procedure.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Cited by

The TargetMine Data Warehouse: Enhancement and Updates.
Chen YA, Tripathi LP, Fujiwara T, Kameyama T, Itoh MN, Mizuguchi K. Chen YA, et al. Front Genet. 2019 Oct 9;10:934. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00934. eCollection 2019. Front Genet. 2019. PMID: 31649722 Free PMC article.
Did an introduction of CONSORT for abstracts guidelines improve reporting quality of randomised controlled trials' abstracts on Helicobacter pylori infection? Observational study.
Vrebalov Cindro P, Bukic J, Pranić S, Leskur D, Rušić D, Šešelja Perišin A, Božić J, Vuković J, Modun D. Vrebalov Cindro P, et al. BMJ Open. 2022 Mar 30;12(3):e054978. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054978. BMJ Open. 2022. PMID: 35354625 Free PMC article.
A comprehensive quality analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials of Asian ginseng and American ginseng based on the CONSORT guideline.
Chen W, Li X, Chen Z, Hao W, Yao P, Li M, Liu K, Hu H, Wang S, Wang Y. Chen W, et al. J Ginseng Res. 2022 Jan;46(1):71-78. doi: 10.1016/j.jgr.2021.05.003. Epub 2021 May 18. J Ginseng Res. 2022. PMID: 35035241 Free PMC article.

References

1. Barry HC, Ebell MH, Shaughnessy AF, et al. . Family physicians’ use of medical abstracts to guide decision making: style or substance? J Am Board Fam Pract 2001;14:437–42. - PubMed
1. Holland J, Haynes RB, McMaster P. McMaster Premium Literature Service (PLUS): an evidence-based medicine information service delivered on the web. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2005:340–4. - PMC - PubMed
1. Higgins JPT, Green S. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions version 5.1.0. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2011; http://handbook.cochrane.org
1. Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D, et al. . Statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. BMJ 2010;340:c332. - PMC - PubMed
1. Hopewell S, Clarke M, Moher D, et al. . CONSORT for reporting randomised trials in journal and conference abstracts. Lancet 2008;371:281–3.10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61835-2 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
- scite Smart Citations
Molecular Biology Databases
- NIAID Data Ecosystem - Find datasets on Infectious and Immune-mediated Diseases

[1] Barry HC, Ebell MH, Shaughnessy AF, et al. . Family physicians’ use of medical abstracts to guide decision making: style or substance? J Am Board Fam Pract 2001;14:437–42. - PubMed

[2] Barry HC, Ebell MH, Shaughnessy AF, et al. . Family physicians’ use of medical abstracts to guide decision making: style or substance? J Am Board Fam Pract 2001;14:437–42. - PubMed

[3] Holland J, Haynes RB, McMaster P. McMaster Premium Literature Service (PLUS): an evidence-based medicine information service delivered on the web. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2005:340–4. - PMC - PubMed

[4] Holland J, Haynes RB, McMaster P. McMaster Premium Literature Service (PLUS): an evidence-based medicine information service delivered on the web. AMIA Annu Symp Proc 2005:340–4. - PMC - PubMed

[5] Higgins JPT, Green S. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions version 5.1.0. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2011; http://handbook.cochrane.org

[6] Higgins JPT, Green S. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions version 5.1.0. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2011; http://handbook.cochrane.org

[7] Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D, et al. . Statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. BMJ 2010;340:c332. - PMC - PubMed

[8] Schulz KF, Altman DG, Moher D, et al. . Statement: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials. BMJ 2010;340:c332. - PMC - PubMed

[9] Hopewell S, Clarke M, Moher D, et al. . CONSORT for reporting randomised trials in journal and conference abstracts. Lancet 2008;371:281–3.10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61835-2 - DOI - PubMed

[10] Hopewell S, Clarke M, Moher D, et al. . CONSORT for reporting randomised trials in journal and conference abstracts. Lancet 2008;371:281–3.10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61835-2 - DOI - PubMed

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature

Affiliations

Quality of reporting in abstracts of RCTs published in emergency medicine journals: a protocol for a systematic survey of the literature

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

Similar articles

Cited by

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Molecular Biology Databases