Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes.
<h4>Objective</h4>Poor reporting in randomized clinical trial (RCT) abstracts reduces quality and misinforms readers. Spin, a biased presentation of findings, could frequently mislead clinicians to accept a clinical intervention despite non-significant primary outcome. Therefore, good re...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2020-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230843 |
| _version_ | 1819100076564283392 |
|---|---|
| author | Murad Shaqman Khadijeh Al-Abedalla Julie Wagner Helen Swede John Cart Gunsolley Effie Ioannidou |
| author_facet | Murad Shaqman Khadijeh Al-Abedalla Julie Wagner Helen Swede John Cart Gunsolley Effie Ioannidou |
| author_sort | Murad Shaqman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Objective</h4>Poor reporting in randomized clinical trial (RCT) abstracts reduces quality and misinforms readers. Spin, a biased presentation of findings, could frequently mislead clinicians to accept a clinical intervention despite non-significant primary outcome. Therefore, good reporting practices and absence of spin enhances research quality. We aim to assess the reporting quality and spin in abstracts of RCTs evaluating the effect of periodontal therapy on cardiovascular (CVD) outcomes.<h4>Methods</h4>PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and 17 trial registration platforms were searched. Cohort, non-randomized, non-English studies, and pediatric studies were excluded. RCT abstracts were reviewed by 2 authors using the CONSORT for abstracts and spin checklists for data extraction. Cohen's Kappa statistic was used to assess inter-rater agreement. Data on the selected RCT publication metrics were collected. Descriptive analysis was performed with non-parametric methods. Correlation analysis between quality, spin and bibliometric parameters was conducted.<h4>Results</h4>24 RCTs were selected for CONSORT analysis and 14 fulfilled the criteria for spin analysis. Several important RCT elements per CONSORT were neglected in the abstract including description of the study population (100%), explicitly stated primary outcome (87%), methods of randomization and blinding (100%), trial registration (87%). No RCT examined true outcomes (CVD events). A significant fraction of the abstracts appeared with at least one form of spin in the results and conclusions (86%) and claimed some treatment benefit in spite of non-significant primary outcome (64%). High-quality reporting had a significant positive correlation with reporting of trial registration (p = 0.04) and funding (p = 0.009). Spinning showed marginal negative correlation with reporting quality (p = 0.059).<h4>Conclusion</h4>Poor adherence to the CONSORT guidelines and high levels of data spin were found in abstracts of RCTs exploring the effects of periodontal therapy on CVD outcomes. Our findings indicate that journal editors and reviewers should consider strict adherence to proper reporting guidelines to improve reporting quality and reduce waste. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:57:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b705ba20a9546fa8d5edd028c6d84ca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T00:57:01Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b705ba20a9546fa8d5edd028c6d84ca2022-12-21T18:44:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01154e023084310.1371/journal.pone.0230843Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes.Murad ShaqmanKhadijeh Al-AbedallaJulie WagnerHelen SwedeJohn Cart GunsolleyEffie Ioannidou<h4>Objective</h4>Poor reporting in randomized clinical trial (RCT) abstracts reduces quality and misinforms readers. Spin, a biased presentation of findings, could frequently mislead clinicians to accept a clinical intervention despite non-significant primary outcome. Therefore, good reporting practices and absence of spin enhances research quality. We aim to assess the reporting quality and spin in abstracts of RCTs evaluating the effect of periodontal therapy on cardiovascular (CVD) outcomes.<h4>Methods</h4>PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and 17 trial registration platforms were searched. Cohort, non-randomized, non-English studies, and pediatric studies were excluded. RCT abstracts were reviewed by 2 authors using the CONSORT for abstracts and spin checklists for data extraction. Cohen's Kappa statistic was used to assess inter-rater agreement. Data on the selected RCT publication metrics were collected. Descriptive analysis was performed with non-parametric methods. Correlation analysis between quality, spin and bibliometric parameters was conducted.<h4>Results</h4>24 RCTs were selected for CONSORT analysis and 14 fulfilled the criteria for spin analysis. Several important RCT elements per CONSORT were neglected in the abstract including description of the study population (100%), explicitly stated primary outcome (87%), methods of randomization and blinding (100%), trial registration (87%). No RCT examined true outcomes (CVD events). A significant fraction of the abstracts appeared with at least one form of spin in the results and conclusions (86%) and claimed some treatment benefit in spite of non-significant primary outcome (64%). High-quality reporting had a significant positive correlation with reporting of trial registration (p = 0.04) and funding (p = 0.009). Spinning showed marginal negative correlation with reporting quality (p = 0.059).<h4>Conclusion</h4>Poor adherence to the CONSORT guidelines and high levels of data spin were found in abstracts of RCTs exploring the effects of periodontal therapy on CVD outcomes. Our findings indicate that journal editors and reviewers should consider strict adherence to proper reporting guidelines to improve reporting quality and reduce waste.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230843 |
| spellingShingle | Murad Shaqman Khadijeh Al-Abedalla Julie Wagner Helen Swede John Cart Gunsolley Effie Ioannidou Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. PLoS ONE |
| title | Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. |
| title_full | Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. |
| title_fullStr | Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. |
| title_short | Reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. |
| title_sort | reporting quality and spin in abstracts of randomized clinical trials of periodontal therapy and cardiovascular disease outcomes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230843 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT muradshaqman reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes AT khadijehalabedalla reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes AT juliewagner reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes AT helenswede reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes AT johncartgunsolley reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes AT effieioannidou reportingqualityandspininabstractsofrandomizedclinicaltrialsofperiodontaltherapyandcardiovasculardiseaseoutcomes |