Do not make clinical decisions based on abstracts of healthcare research: A systematic review.

Autor: Nascimento DP; Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: dafnepn@yahoo.com.br., Ostelo RWJG; Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc and the Amsterdam Movement Sciences Research Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands., van Tulder MW; Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Physiotherapy & Occupational Therapy, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark. Electronic address: maurits.van.tulder@vu.nl., Gonzalez GZ; Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil., Araujo AC; Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil., Vanin AA; Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil., Costa LOP; Masters and Doctoral Programs in Physical Therapy, Universidade Cidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of clinical epidemiology [J Clin Epidemiol] 2021 Apr 08, pp. 136-157. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Apr 08.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.03.030
Abstrakt: Objective: To summarize the reporting quality of healthcare abstracts and inconsistencies between abstracts and full texts.
Study Design and Setting: This systematic review included overviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews (SRs) that summarized data of healthcare abstracts on reporting of abstracts and consistency of abstracts with the full text. Searches were performed in PubMed, CENTRAL, Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases from 1900 to February 2019. Two authors screened the overviews and extracted the data. All analyses were descriptive and divided into two main groups: abstracts' reporting quality and abstracts' consistency with the full text. Abstracts were considered poorly reported and inconsistent with the full text if more than 5% of abstracts' information was not fully reported or not consistent with the full text.
Results: 27 overviews analyzing 5,194 RCTs and 866 SRs were retrieved for reporting quality of abstracts. A total of 22 overviews analyzing 2,025 RCTs and 551 SRs were included for consistency of abstracts with the full text. Abstracts across all healthcare areas presented poor reporting quality and were inconsistent with the full texts, with results and conclusions as the most inconsistent sections.
Conclusion: Abstracts of healthcare RCTs and SRs have shown a large room for improvement in reporting quality and consistency with the full text. Authors, journal editors and reviewers need to give the highest priority to this matter.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None
(Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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