ReviewEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2014
How to assess the external validity and model validity of therapeutic trials: a conceptual approach to systematic review methodology.
Review in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
33 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Conceptual and operational consistency in defining intestinal failure across randomized controlled trials: a systematic review and meta-research analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2026Pooled it
- Machine learning in paediatric haematological malignancies: a systematic review of prognosis, toxicity and treatment response models.Pediatric research · 2025Pooled it
- Validity of age estimation methods and reproducibility of bone/dental maturity indices for chronological age estimation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of validation studies.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Identification of tools used to assess the external validity of randomized controlled trials in reviews: a systematic review of measurement properties.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Pooled it
- Manipulation and Mobilization for Treating Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis for an Appropriateness Panel.Pain physician · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of exercise programs on kyphosis and lordosis angle: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Manipulation and mobilization for treating chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society · 2018Pooled it
- The Impact of Massage Therapy on Function in Pain Populations-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: Part III, Surgical Pain Populations.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2016Pooled it
- The Impact of Massage Therapy on Function in Pain Populations-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials: Part II, Cancer Pain Populations.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2016Pooled it
- Quality-of-life attributes of chiropractic students that are significantly associated with students' sense of coherence: A cross-sectional study.The Journal of chiropractic education · 2026Article
- Cancer-specific cut-offs of treatment initiation delay and assessment of their associated variables: a research concern.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2025Article
- The current state of the quality of homeopathic clinical research.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2025Review
- Protocol for a scoping review of traditional medicine research methods, methodologies, frameworks and strategies.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Integrating case management for patients with complex needs in the ground practice: the importance of context in evaluative designs.Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
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- Article
- A Prospective Validation Study of the Functional Bedside Aspiration Screen with Endoscopy: Is It Clinically Applicable in Acute Stroke?Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Quality of the Systematic Reviews in Cochrane Gynecological Cancer Group and Their Understudied RCTs.Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology of India · 2022Article
- Sociodemographic Differences in Respondent Preferences for Survey Formats: Sampling Bias and Potential Threats to External Validity.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation · 2022Article
- Patients' perceptions on non-specific effects of acupuncture: Qualitative comparison between responders and non-responders.Integrative medicine research · 2022Article
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
Background. Evidence rankings do not consider equally internal (IV), external (EV), and model validity (MV) for clinical studies including complementary and alternative medicine/integrative medicine (CAM/IM) research. This paper describe this model and offers an EV assessment tool (EVAT©) for weighing studies according to EV and MV in addition to IV. Methods. An abbreviated systematic review methodology was employed to search, assemble, and evaluate the literature that has been published on EV/MV criteria. Standard databases were searched for keywords relating to EV, MV, and bias-scoring from inception to Jan 2013. Tools identified and concepts described were pooled to assemble a robust tool for evaluating these quality criteria. Results. This study assembled a streamlined, objective tool to incorporate for the evaluation of quality of EV/MV research that is more sensitive to CAM/IM research. Conclusion. Improved reporting on EV can help produce and provide information that will help guide policy makers, public health researchers, and other scientists in their selection, development, and improvement in their research-tested intervention. Overall, clinical studies with high EV have the potential to provide the most useful information about "real-world" consequences of health interventions. It is hoped that this novel tool which considers IV, EV, and MV on equal footing will better guide clinical decision making.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.