Authors seldom report the most patient-important outcomes and absolute effect measures in systematic review abstracts

Arnav Agarwal; Bradley C Johnston; Robin W M Vernooij; Alonso Carrasco-Labra; Romina Brignardello-Petersen; Ignacio Neumann; Elie A Akl; Xin Sun; Matthias Briel; Jason W Busse; Shanil Ebrahim; Carlos E Granados; Alfonso Iorio; Affan Irfan; Laura Martínez García; Reem A Mustafa; Anggie Ramirez-Morera; Anna Selva; Ivan Solà; Andrea J Sanabrai; Kari A O Tikkinen; Per O Vandvik; Yuqing Zhang; Oscar E Zazueta; Qi Zhou; Holger J Schunemann; Gordon H Guyatt; Pablo Alonso-Coello

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.08.004

Authors seldom report the most patient-important outcomes and absolute effect measures in systematic review abstracts

J Clin Epidemiol. 2017 Jan:81:3-12. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.08.004. Epub 2016 Aug 21.

Authors

Arnav Agarwal¹, Bradley C Johnston², Robin W M Vernooij³, Alonso Carrasco-Labra⁴, Romina Brignardello-Petersen⁴, Ignacio Neumann⁵, Elie A Akl⁶, Xin Sun⁷, Matthias Briel⁸, Jason W Busse⁹, Shanil Ebrahim¹⁰, Carlos E Granados¹¹, Alfonso Iorio¹², Affan Irfan¹³, Laura Martínez García³, Reem A Mustafa¹⁴, Anggie Ramirez-Morera¹⁵, Anna Selva³, Ivan Solà³, Andrea J Sanabrai³, Kari A O Tikkinen¹⁶, Per O Vandvik¹⁷, Yuqing Zhang¹², Oscar E Zazueta³, Qi Zhou¹², Holger J Schunemann¹², Gordon H Guyatt¹², Pablo Alonso-Coello¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Medicine, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada; Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
² Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto, 4th Floor, 155 College St, Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M6, Canada; Systematic Overviews through advancing Research Technology (SORT), Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, University of Toronto, 686 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A4, Canada; Department of Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. Electronic address: bradley.johnston@sickkids.ca.
³ Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Department, Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), C/ Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167, Pavelló 18, planta 0, 08025 Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Evidence-Based Dentistry Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, Universidad de Chile, Sergio Livingstone 943, Santiago, Chile.
⁵ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O Higgins 340, Santiago, Región Metropolitana, Chile.
⁶ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, P.O. Box: 11-0236, Riad-El-Solh, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon.
⁷ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Chinese Evidence-based Medicine Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, 37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu 610041, China.
⁸ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Spitalstrasse 12, Basel 4031, Switzerland.
⁹ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Anesthesia, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Área de investigaciones, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de La Sabana, Campus del Puente del Común Km, 7 Autopista Norte, Chía, Colombia.
¹² Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
¹³ Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 506 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Departments of Medicine and Biomedical & Health Informatics, University of Missouri-Kansas City, School of Medicine, M4-303, 2411 Holmes St, Kansas City, MO, USA.
¹⁵ CCSS Permanent Medical Advisor, Health Care Development Division, IHCAI Foundation & Central America Cochrane, 1st Ave., 35th and 37th St, Number 3530, Barrio Escalante, San José, Costa Rica.
¹⁶ Departments of Urology and Public Health, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 4, Helsinki 00029, Finland.
¹⁷ Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, P.O. Box 4404 Nydalen, Oslo 0403 Norway.
¹⁸ Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Clinical Epidemiology and Public Health Department, Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), C/ Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167, Pavelló 18, planta 0, 08025 Barcelona, Spain; CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP-IIB Sant Pau), Av. Monforte de Lemos, 3-5, Pabellón 11, Planta 0, Madrid 28029, Spain.

PMID: 27555080
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.08.004

Abstract

Objectives: Explicit reporting of absolute measures is important to ensure treatment effects are correctly interpreted. We examined the extent to which authors report absolute effects for patient-important outcomes in abstracts of systematic review (SR).

Study design and setting: We searched OVID MEDLINE and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to identify eligible SRs published in the year 2010. Citations were stratified into Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews, with repeated random sampling in a 1:1 ratio. Paired reviewers screened articles and recorded abstract characteristics, including reporting of effect measures for the most patient-important outcomes of benefit and harm.

Results: We included 96 Cochrane and 94 non-Cochrane reviews. About 117 (77.5%) relative measures were reported in abstracts for outcomes of benefit, whereas only 34 (22.5%) absolute measures were reported. Similarly, for outcomes of harm, 41 (87.2%) relative measures were provided in abstracts, compared with only 6 (12.8%) absolute measures. Eighteen (9.5%) abstracts reported both absolute and relative measures for outcomes of benefit, whereas only two (1.1%) abstracts reported both measures for outcomes of harm. Results were similar between Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews.

Conclusion: SR abstracts seldom report measures of absolute effect. Journal editors should insist that authors report both relative and absolute effects for patient-important outcomes.

Keywords: Absolute measures; Abstract reporting; Cochrane reviews; Explicit reporting; Non-Cochrane reviews; Patient-important outcomes.

Publication types

Review
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Abstracting and Indexing / statistics & numerical data*
Authorship*
Humans
Patient Outcome Assessment*
Research Design
Research Report
Review Literature as Topic*

Grants and funding

CIHR/Canada