ArticleJournal of clinical epidemiology2019
Who is in this study, anyway? Guidelines for a useful Table 1.
Article in Journal of clinical epidemiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 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
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Development of a core descriptor set for studies assessing interventions for diabetes-related foot ulceration.Diabetologia · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of postoperative dairy consumption on oral wound healing: critical analysis from a prospective, randomized and controlled trial.Head & face medicine · 2025Trial
- Family-Centered Care and Outcomes of Child Flourishing and Family Resilience and Connection.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Retrieval-to-abstraction LLM-assisted literature synthesis: Case demonstrations in digital health technology-enabled randomized controlled trial outcome reporting.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Depressive symptoms and neuroimaging markers of brain aging in an ethno-racially diverse sample: a Bayesian analysis.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Infection prevention and control in a wartime ICU: a retrospective analysis of 305 combatant cases from a Ukrainian civilian rear hospital.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Types of Percentages in Different Studies and Their Applications in Medical Research.Iranian journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Serum Biomarker-Based Diagnostic Tools for Primary Hyperparathyroidism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis with Implications for Primary Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Straining Under Contradiction? Contradictory Class Locations and Job Strain in the United States.International journal of social determinants of health and health services · 2026Article
- Association of substance use with stroke in heart failure by community socioeconomic distress.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Dynamic effects of COVID-19 vaccination on major acute cardiovascular events and mortality following SARS-CoV-2 infection in a target trial emulation study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Dietary quercetin intake is not associated with risk of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in a general adult population.European journal of nutrition · 2025Article
- Indoor air pollution inequalities among children and adolescents in Germany: an analysis of repeated cross-sectional data from GerES and KiGGS.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Estimating the Burden of Common Mental Disorders Attributable to Lifestyle Factors: Protocol for the Global Burden of Disease Lifestyle and Mental Disorder (GLAD) Project.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- How to Design and Write Your Quality Improvement Study for Publication: Pearls and Pitfalls.Neurology. Clinical practice · 2025Article
- Addressing racial and ethnic disparities in premature exits from permanent supportive housing among residents with substance use disorders.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Depression and Incident Hypertension: The Strong Heart Family Study.Preventing chronic disease · 2025Article
- Adherence to the EAT-lancet dietary pattern among older adults in Rwanda and its association with micronutrient intake.Food & nutrition research · 2025Article
- Characteristics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Sex in Mexico: A Multi-Institutional Collaboration.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Precarious employment and mental health in the United States: Results from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 2008-2021.Preventive medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveEpidemiologic and clinical research papers often describe the study sample in the first table. If well-executed, this "Table 1" can illuminate potential threats to internal and external validity. However, little guidance exists on best practices for designing a Table 1, especially for complex study designs and analyses. We aimed to summarize and extend the literature related to reporting descriptive statistics. STUDY DESIGN AND
settingIn consultation with existing guidelines, we synthesized and developed reporting recommendations driven by study design and focused on transparency related to potential threats to internal and external validity.
resultsWe describe a basic structure for Table 1 and discuss simple modifications in terms of columns, rows, and cells to enhance a reader's ability to judge both internal and external validity. We further highlight several analytic complexities common in epidemiologic research (missing data, sample weights, clustered data, and interaction) and describe possible variations to Table 1 to maintain and add clarity about study validity in light of these issues. We discuss considerations and tradeoffs in Table 1 related to breadth and comprehensiveness vs. parsimony and reader-friendliness.
conclusionWe anticipate that our work will guide authors considering layouts for Table 1, with attention to the reader's perspective.
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.