ArticlePloS one2020
A deeper analysis in thyroid research: A meta-epidemiological study of the American Thyroid Association clinical guidelines.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Natural product-based interventions for thyroid disorders: mechanisms and applications.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe American Thyroid Association (ATA) uses the GRADE or the American College of Physicians (ACP) system to develop recommendations. Recommendations based on low-quality evidence should spur for the conduction of clinical studies, if feasible. The extent to which recommendations by the ATA based on low-quality of evidence are being actively researched remains unknown.
methodsClinical guidelines produced by the ATA using the GRADE or the ACP system to classify evidence were deemed eligible. Reviewers, in duplicate and independently, extracted therapeutic recommendations based on low-quality evidence, whereas recommendations with higher quality of evidence, aimed at diagnosis, or best practice statements were excluded. Eligible recommendations based on low-quality evidence were deconstructed to their components using the PICO format. We then searched on clinicaltrials.gov to identify ongoing research. Trials were deemed eligible if they addressed the PICO question with at least one of the intended outcomes.
resultsA total of 543 recommendations were retrieved, of which 305 (56%) were based on low-quality of evidence and only 90 were deemed eligible. Of these, we found that 33 (37%) recommendations were actively being researched in 53 clinical trials. Most of the trials were randomized and funded by non-profit organizations. Many clinical trials studied thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer (26/53; 49%), whereas few studied were aimed at anaplastic thyroid cancer (2/53; 4%).
conclusionOne out of three of gaps in evidence, identified as low quality during the development of ATA guidelines, are currently actively researched. This finding calls for the need to develop a better research infrastructure and funding to support thyroid research.
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Registered trials
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