Abstracts for reports of randomised trials of COVID-19 interventions had low quality and high spin

Abstract

Objectives: To assess the reporting quality of abstracts for published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including the use of spin strategies and the level of spin for RCTs with statistically non-significant primary outcomes, and to explore potential predictors for reporting quality and the severity of spin.

Study design and setting: PubMed was searched to find RCTs that tested interventions for COVID-19, and the reporting quality and spin in the abstracts were assessed. Linear regression analyses were used to identify potential predictors.

Results: Forty RCT abstracts were included in our assessment of reporting quality, and a higher word count in the abstract was significantly correlated with higher reporting scores (95% CI 0.044 to 0.658, P=0.026). Multiple spin strategies were identified. Our multivariate analyses showed that geographical origin was associated with severity of spin, with research from non-Asian regions containing fewer spin strategies (95% CI -0.760 to -0.099, P=0.013).

Conclusions: The reporting quality of abstracts of RCTs of interventions for COVID-19 is far from satisfactory. A relatively high proportion of the abstracts contained spin, and the findings reported in the results and conclusion sections of these abstracts need to be interpreted with caution.

Keywords: CONSORT: consolidated standards of reporting trials; COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; IQR: interquartile range; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; abstract, COVID-19, randomized controlled trial, primary outcome, reporting quality, spin Abbreviations RCT: randomized controlled trial.