Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19590865›Full record

ReviewEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2009

Children's presence in research. A review of online registers.

C Pandolfini, M Bonati

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
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

2 authors.

C PandolfiniLaboratory for Mother and Child Health, Department of Public Health, "Mario Negri" Pharmacological Research Institute, Via Giuseppe La Masa 19, 20156 Milan, Italy.
M Bonati

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine how many online clinical trial registers include paediatric trial data, how much information is provided, ease of searching for paediatric trials and the accessibility of paediatric trial data in general.

methodsMedline and Google were searched for mention of clinical trial registers in July 2008. All registers considered to be eligible were evaluated for trial information provided, search options available, and number of trials, both total and paediatric. A meta-analytic weighted average of the presence of paediatric trials was calculated and compared to the percentage of published paediatric trial articles in Medline. The paediatric trials in the registers were searched for in the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). All online, freely accessible registers including ongoing trials on different drugs or therapeutic areas, were eligible for review.

resultsTwelve registers were included in the review. All except one provided detailed trial data, while search options varied between registers: seven provided free-text searching, two listed their trials by condition, two provided elaborate search options (age group, condition, study purpose, etc) and one simply listed its trials. Nine of the 12 registers' search facilities made it possible to search for paediatric trials, and these were analysed further: the percentage of paediatric trials in the single registers ranged from 4.8 to 33.3%, and the weighted average was 15% (95% confidence interval 8.2-21.8). The percentage of published, paediatric trial articles was 25%. Of the paediatric trials also searched for in the ICTRP, 66% were found.

conclusionsGreat difficulty was found in retrieving paediatric trials due to the limited and inadequate search functions of the registers reviewed but, in general, the registers seem to represent fewer paediatric trials than those reported in the literature. The ICTRP portal is important for trial accessibility, but it is still in an initial phase and far from representative of the global research situation, especially in the field of paediatrics.

Indexed as

Research SubjectsAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolClinical Trials as TopicEvaluation Studies as TopicHumansInternetMinorsPediatricsRegistries

Identifiers

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.