Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32983722›Full record

ArticleCureus2020

The Current State of Clinical Trials Studying Hydrocephalus: An Analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov.

Mickey E Abraham, Roman Povolotskiy, Justin Gold, Max Ward, Julian L Gendreau, Antonios Mammis

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cureus, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.1field-weighted citation impact, top 59% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Mickey E AbrahamDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of California, San Diego, USA.
Roman PovolotskiyDepartment of Neurosurgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, USA.
Justin GoldDepartment of Neurosurgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, USA.
Max WardDepartment of Neurosurgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, USA.
Julian L GendreauGraduate Medical Education, Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Augusta, USA.
Antonios MammisDepartment of Neurosurgery, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, USA.
University of San Diego · USEisenhower Medical Center · USRutgers, The State University of New Jersey · USUniversity of California, San Diego · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction Hydrocephalus is a significant public health concern estimated to affect 380,000 new individuals annually. In addition, it exhibits an increasingly high financial burden for the healthcare industry. Clinical trials are the gold standard for evaluating preventative and therapeutic strategies to bring potential treatments to the forefront of clinical practice. Methods A study of the ClinicalTrials.gov was conducted in April 2019 to examine all current and previously reported clinical trials studying hydrocephalus. Studies were reviewed to extrapolate information to characterize the current state of research being conducted for hydrocephalus. Results In total, 80 clinical trials met inclusion criteria and were analyzed: 48.8% were observation and 51.2% were interventional. Of those, 55% have been completed while 30.0% are still recruiting, and 15.0% are not yet recruiting. The United States has the most clinical trials (42.0%) and a plurality of trials has a sample size of 0-50 participants. The majority of studies included only adults (53.8%). Of those studies, 54.0% were cohort and the majority were prospective (74.0%). Of the different types of hydrocephalus, normal pressure hydrocephalus and pediatric hydrocephalus have generated the most interest for research comprising a majority of the clinical trial registry. While 44 of the trials are complete, only 20 have published results in peer-reviewed literature highlighting the need for improvement in publishing study results even if the results of the trials are null. Conclusion Most clinical trials to date have pertained to the treatment of normal pressure hydrocephalus and pediatric hydrocephalus. While great advancements have been made for the treatment of hydrocephalus, there remains much room for improvements in therapeutic interventional modalities as well as ensuring the reporting of all undertaken clinical trials.

Indexed as

hydrocephalusnormal pressure hydrocephaluspediatric hydrocephaluspost-hemorrhagic hydrocephalusreview of clinical trials

Identifiers

PMID32983722
PMCPMC7515805
OpenAlexW3080325632

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.