Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article

Background: The inadequate reporting of cross-sectional studies, as in the case of the prevalence of Congenital Anomaly, could cause challenges in the synthesis of new evidence and make possible mistakes in the creation of public policies. This study was conducted to critically appraise the quality...

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Main Authors: Morvarid IRANI, Maryam HASSANZADEH BASHTIAN, Talat KHADIVZADEH, Hosein EBRAHIMIPOUR, Seyyed Mohsen ASGHARI NEKAH
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2018-12-01
Series:Iranian Journal of Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/15504
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author Morvarid IRANI
Maryam HASSANZADEH BASHTIAN
Talat KHADIVZADEH
Hosein EBRAHIMIPOUR
Seyyed Mohsen ASGHARI NEKAH
author_facet Morvarid IRANI
Maryam HASSANZADEH BASHTIAN
Talat KHADIVZADEH
Hosein EBRAHIMIPOUR
Seyyed Mohsen ASGHARI NEKAH
author_sort Morvarid IRANI
collection DOAJ
description Background: The inadequate reporting of cross-sectional studies, as in the case of the prevalence of Congenital Anomaly, could cause challenges in the synthesis of new evidence and make possible mistakes in the creation of public policies. This study was conducted to critically appraise the quality of the articles involving congenital anomaly prevalence in Iranian infants with the STROBE recommendations. Methods: We performed a thorough literature search using the words "congenital anomaly" "birth defect" and "Iran" in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, SID, Elmnet, Magiran, IranDoc, Iranmedex, and Google Scholar until Aug 2017. In this critical appraisal we focused on cross-sectional studies that reported the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants. Data were analyzed using the STROBE score per item and recommendation. Results: The results of 17 selected articles on Congenital Anomaly prevalence showed that the overall accordance of the cross-sectional study reports with STROBE recommendations was about 63%. All articles met the recommendations associated with the report of the study’s rationale, objectives, setting, key results and provision of summary measures. Methods and results were the weakest part of the articles, in which recommendations associated with the participant flowchart and missing data analysis were not reported. The recommendations with the lowest scores were those related to the sensitivity analysis (6%, n=1/17), bias (6%, n=1/17), and funding (41%, n=7/17). Conclusion: Cross-sectional studies about the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants have an insufficient reporting on the methods and results parts. We recognized a clear need to increase the quality of such studies.
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spelling doaj.art-48081845e4e946b0a309375f237a7ee42022-12-21T20:19:13ZengTehran University of Medical SciencesIranian Journal of Public Health2251-60852251-60932018-12-014712Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review ArticleMorvarid IRANI0Maryam HASSANZADEH BASHTIAN1Talat KHADIVZADEH2Hosein EBRAHIMIPOUR3Seyyed Mohsen ASGHARI NEKAH4Student Research Committee, Dept. of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IranStudent Research Committee, Dept. of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IranNursing and Midwifery Care Research Center, Dept. of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IranSocial Determinants of Health Research Center, Dept. of Health Economic and Management Sciences, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, IranDept. of Educational and Counseling Psychology, School of Educational and Sciences Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, IranBackground: The inadequate reporting of cross-sectional studies, as in the case of the prevalence of Congenital Anomaly, could cause challenges in the synthesis of new evidence and make possible mistakes in the creation of public policies. This study was conducted to critically appraise the quality of the articles involving congenital anomaly prevalence in Iranian infants with the STROBE recommendations. Methods: We performed a thorough literature search using the words "congenital anomaly" "birth defect" and "Iran" in MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, SID, Elmnet, Magiran, IranDoc, Iranmedex, and Google Scholar until Aug 2017. In this critical appraisal we focused on cross-sectional studies that reported the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants. Data were analyzed using the STROBE score per item and recommendation. Results: The results of 17 selected articles on Congenital Anomaly prevalence showed that the overall accordance of the cross-sectional study reports with STROBE recommendations was about 63%. All articles met the recommendations associated with the report of the study’s rationale, objectives, setting, key results and provision of summary measures. Methods and results were the weakest part of the articles, in which recommendations associated with the participant flowchart and missing data analysis were not reported. The recommendations with the lowest scores were those related to the sensitivity analysis (6%, n=1/17), bias (6%, n=1/17), and funding (41%, n=7/17). Conclusion: Cross-sectional studies about the prevalence of congenital anomaly in Iranian infants have an insufficient reporting on the methods and results parts. We recognized a clear need to increase the quality of such studies.https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/15504IranEpidemiologyPrevalenceCongenital anomalySTROBE
spellingShingle Morvarid IRANI
Maryam HASSANZADEH BASHTIAN
Talat KHADIVZADEH
Hosein EBRAHIMIPOUR
Seyyed Mohsen ASGHARI NEKAH
Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
Iranian Journal of Public Health
Iran
Epidemiology
Prevalence
Congenital anomaly
STROBE
title Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
title_full Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
title_fullStr Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
title_full_unstemmed Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
title_short Weaknesses in the Reporting of Cross-sectional Studies in Accordance with the STROBE Report (The Case of Congenital Anomaly among Infants in Iran): A Review Article
title_sort weaknesses in the reporting of cross sectional studies in accordance with the strobe report the case of congenital anomaly among infants in iran a review article
topic Iran
Epidemiology
Prevalence
Congenital anomaly
STROBE
url https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/15504
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