ArticleTrials2021
Protocol of investigation into reporting quality of RCT abstracts on COVID-19 pursuant to CONSORT (CoCo study)-a review.
Article in Trials, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic developed into a global crisis, the enormity and urgency of which accelerated research activities in the field. At the same time, manuscripts describing these research projects underwent fast-track peer review procedures and were published in freely accessible formats. Although full texts about COVID-19 are currently available for free, abstracts continue to play a key role since they provide essential information and possibly a decision basis for therapies. Abstracts are particularly important in case the full texts are not free, not all reports have been published in English and in emergency situations when there is less time for comprehensive analysis of all full texts. It is therefore necessary to ensure that abstracts-as publications in miniature format-contain comprehensive and transparent information. The CONSORT statement for abstracts (CONSORT-A) offers guidelines to authors how to include all necessary information in an abstract. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the quality of reporting in medical research had already been the object of debate and criticism. The current crisis makes comprehensive documentation all the more important. Abstracts of COVID-19 RCTs should therefore report the criteria listed in the CONSORT-A statement fully and verifiably. The objective of this study is to check the completeness of abstracts of all COVID-19 RTCs published to date.
methodsBased on a literature search in PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library, all publications up to 29 October 2020 are identified and examined in terms of the subject matter (reported results from COVID-19 studies) and their study design (RTC). Subsequently, suitable publications are examined for completeness and quality of abstracts. The CONSORT checklist for RTC abstracts serves as a basis in this procedure. The primary endpoint of the study is the percentage of correctly implemented items of the CONSORT statement for abstracts. The frequency of correct reporting of each individual item is checked in a second step. DISCUSSION: The study is expected to contribute to evaluating the reporting quality on COVID-19 studies, and specifically the completeness of abstracts of RTCs. It may thus support the assessment of current research into COVID-19.
trial registrationRegistration was not required as the study investigated existing literature.
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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.