Critical analysis of the reporting quality of animal studies within Endodontics using the Preferred Reporting Items for Animal Studies in Endodontics (PRIASE) 2021 quality standard checklist

Giorgos Tzanetakis; Aleksandar Jakovljevic; Despina Koletsi; Jelena Jacimovic; Venkateshbabu Nagendrababu; Henry Fergus Duncan; Paul Michael Howell Dummer

doi:10.1111/iej.13944

Critical analysis of the reporting quality of animal studies within Endodontics using the Preferred Reporting Items for Animal Studies in Endodontics (PRIASE) 2021 quality standard checklist

Int Endod J. 2023 Sep;56(9):1042-1062. doi: 10.1111/iej.13944. Epub 2023 Jun 20.

Authors

Giorgos Tzanetakis¹, Aleksandar Jakovljevic², Despina Koletsi^{3

4}, Jelena Jacimovic⁵, Venkateshbabu Nagendrababu⁶, Henry Fergus Duncan⁷, Paul Michael Howell Dummer⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Endodontics, School of Dentistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
² Department of Pathophysiology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Clinic of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, Center of Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Meta- Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS), Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
⁵ Central Library, School of Dental Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia.
⁶ University of Sharjah, College of Dental Medicine, Department of Preventive and Restorative Dentistry, Sharjah, UAE.
⁷ Division of Restorative Dentistry & Periodontology, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
⁸ School of Dentistry, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.

PMID: 37300853
DOI: 10.1111/iej.13944

Abstract

Aim: To critically evaluate the reporting quality of a random sample of animal studies within the field of endodontics against the Preferred Reporting Items for Animal Studies in Endodontics (PRIASE) 2021 checklist and to investigate the association between the quality of reporting and several characteristics of the selected studies.

Methodology: Fifty animal studies related to endodontics were randomly selected from the PubMed database with publication dates from January 2017 to December 2021. For each study, a score of '1' was given when the item of the PRIASE 2021 checklist was fully reported, whereas a score of '0' was given when an item was not reported; when the item was inadequately or partially reported, a score of '0.5' was given. Based on the overall scores allocated to each manuscript, they were allocated into three categories of reporting quality: low, moderate and high. Associations between study characteristics and reporting quality scores were also analysed. Descriptive statistics and Fisher's exact tests were used to describe the data and determine associations. The probability value of .05 was selected as the level of statistical significance.

Results: Based on the overall scores, four (8%) and 46 (92%) of the animal studies evaluated were categorized as 'High' and 'Moderate' reporting quality, respectively. A number of items were adequately reported in all studies related to background (Item 4a), relevance of methods/results (7a) and interpretation of images (11e), whereas only one item related to changes in protocol (6d) was not reported in any. No associations were confirmed between reporting quality scores and number of authors, origin of the corresponding author, journal of publication (endodontic specialty vs. non- specialty), impact factor or year of publication.

Conclusions: Animal studies published in the specialty of endodontics were mostly of 'moderate' quality in terms of the quality of reporting. Adherence to the PRIASE 2021 guidelines will enhance the reporting of animal studies in the expectation that all future publications will be high quality.

Keywords: PRIASE 2021; animal studies; critical appraisal; reporting guidelines.

MeSH terms

Animals
Checklist*
Endodontics*
Research Design