Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17337588›Full record

ArticleJournal of clinical pathology2007

Problems of basing patient recruitment for primary care studies on routine laboratory submissions.

Cliodna McNulty, Michael Thomas, Rhiannon John, Andrew Lovering, Deirdre Lewis, Alasdair MacGowan

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of clinical pathology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Cliodna McNultyHealth Protection Agency Primary Care Unit, Microbiology Department, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK. jill.whiting@hpa.org.uk
Michael Thomas
Rhiannon John
Andrew Lovering
Deirdre Lewis
Alasdair MacGowan
Southmead Hospital · GBGloucestershire Royal Hospital · GBUniversity of Gloucestershire · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUse of routine urine submission rates for estimation of patient enrollment in primary care studies of acute urinary symptoms may overestimate patient recruitment rate.

aimsTo compare the rates of submission of urines and significant bacteriuria from patients presenting with acute urinary symptoms in study general practices to routine microbiology laboratory urines.

methodsRoutine laboratory urine submissions were determined by counting all mid-stream urine specimens submitted to the laboratory from 12 large general practitioner (GP) practices served by Gloucester and Southmead microbiology departments over two years (2000-02). Urine specimens were requested from all patients with acute urinary symptoms referred at research nurse practice visits over the same time period. The annual study urine submission was calculated using the ratio of the number of nurse practice visits to the annual number of possible consulting sessions. Significant bacteriuria was defined as a urine growing a single organism reported as >10(5) colony forming units/ml. Rates per 1000 patients were calculated using practice population data.

resultsThe urine submission rate from study patients with acute urinary symptoms was one-third the routine urine submission rate from the same practices. The significant bacteriuria rate attained from the study was less than half the routine significant bacteriuria rate.

conclusionTwo-thirds of routine urine samples submitted by GPs are probably not for the investigation of acute urinary symptoms. Basing consultation sample size power calculations for primary care studies or sentinel practice-based surveillance in urinary tract infection on routine laboratory submissions is unreliable and will lead to significant overestimation of recruitment rate.

Indexed as

Patient SelectionAcute DiseaseAdolescentAdultAgedBacteriuriaEnglandFamily PracticeFemaleHealth Services ResearchHumansLaboratoriesMaleMiddle AgedPrimary Health CareSample Size

Identifiers

PMID17337588
PMCPMC2095479
OpenAlexW1983404329

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.