Comparator bias: why comparisons must address genuine uncertainties.

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.

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.

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

1. Surgical versus non-surgical treatment for sciatica: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023
   Pooled it
2. Industry sponsorship and research outcome: systematic review with meta-analysis.Intensive care medicine · 2018
   Pooled it
3. Evaluation of new treatments in radiation oncology: are they better than standard treatments?JAMA · 2005
   Pooled it
4. TRUST4RD: tool for reducing uncertainties in the evidence generation for specialised treatments for rare diseases.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2020
   Trial
5. Randomized clinical trials with run-in periods: frequency, characteristics and reporting.Clinical epidemiology · 2019
   Article
6. Recommendations for the Appropriate Structure, Communication, and Investigation of Tobacco Harm Reduction Claims. An Official American Thoracic Society Policy Statement.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2018
   Article
7. Financial conflicts of interest in clinical research.Intensive care medicine · 2018
   Article
8. Living network meta-analysis compared with pairwise meta-analysis in comparative effectiveness research: empirical study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2018
   Review
9. Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis.Lancet (London, England) · 2014
   Article
10. Blood on our hands: seeing the evil in inappropriate comparators.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2013
    Article
11. New treatments compared to established treatments in randomized trials.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2012
    Article
12. When is it rational to participate in a clinical trial? A game theory approach incorporating trust, regret and guilt.BMC medical research methodology · 2012
    Article
13. A Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Is Effective for Weight Loss: The Evidence.American journal of lifestyle medicine
    Review

Corrections and comments

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

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

Abstract

PubMed holds no abstract for this paper.

Indexed as