RevieweLife2019
A comprehensive review of randomized clinical trials in three medical journals reveals 396 medical reversals.
Review in eLife, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Treatment Effects in Randomized and Nonrandomized Studies of Pharmacological Interventions: A Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- Medical Reversals, Spins and Divergent Results in Cardiology Trials.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2025Review
- Andexanet alfa: trials just leave us with more questions.Research and practice in thrombosis and haemostasis · 2025Article
- Article
- Editor's Spotlight/Take 5: Arthroscopic Partial Meniscectomy for a Degenerative Meniscus Tear Is Not Cost Effective Compared With Placebo Surgery: An Economic Evaluation Based on the FIDELITY Trial Data.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2024Article
- No evidence that ACE2 or TMPRSS2 drive population disparity in COVID risks.BMC medicine · 2024Article
- Utilizing ChatGPT as a scientific reasoning engine to differentiate conflicting evidence and summarize challenges in controversial clinical questions.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2024Article
- Advancing healthcare equity through dissemination and implementation science.Health services research · 2023Review
- Is There a Role for Levothyroxine Therapy in Euthyroid Patients on Active Surveillance for Papillary Microcarcinoma?Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association · 2023Article
- Performance of ChatGPT on USMLE: Potential for AI-assisted medical education using large language models.PLOS digital health · 2023Article
- Randomized controlled trials in de-implementation research: a systematic scoping review.Implementation science : IS · 2022Article
- An Analysis of 5 Years of Randomized Trials in Gastroenterology and Hepatology Reveals 52 Medical Reversals.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2022Review
- Machine learning and health need better values.NPJ digital medicine · 2022Article
- Recommendation Reversals in Gastroenterology Clinical Practice Guidelines.Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Pharmacological Treatment for Pedophilic Disorder and Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder: A Review.Drugs · 2022Review
- A scoping review of de-implementation frameworks and models.Implementation science : IS · 2021Article
- The frequency of medical reversals in a cross-sectional analysis of high-impact oncology journals, 2009-2018.BMC cancer · 2021Article
- Ethical Machine Learning in Healthcare.Annual review of biomedical data science · 2021Article
- Bowel preparation in colorectal surgery: the day of reckoning is here.The British journal of surgery · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability to identify medical reversals and other low-value medical practices is an essential prerequisite for efforts to reduce spending on such practices. Through an analysis of more than 3000 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in three leading medical journals (the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine), we have identified 396 medical reversals. Most of the studies (92%) were conducted on populations in high-income counties, cardiovascular disease was the most common medical category (20%), and medication was the most common type of intervention (33%).
Indexed as
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.