Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39239124›Full record

ArticleInterventional pain medicine2022

Criteria for determining if a treatment for pain works.

Nikolai Bogduk

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Interventional pain medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. 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

1 author.

Nikolai BogdukThe University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia, PO Box 431, East Maitland, NSW, 2323, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Claims that a treatment works are hollow unless qualified in terms of: in what respects, by how much, how often, and for how long. Essential co-requisites for improvements in pain are improvements in function, psychological distress, and use of health care. Validated instruments are available for these outcome measures. Mean scores and p-values are not informative. Categorical data are required to reveal by how much a treatment works and how often. In order to provide a full picture, outcomes need to be followed until they plateau. Readers of studies should not rely on what authors claim. Instead, readers should demand comprehensive, transparent data on outcomes so that they can decide for themselves if a treatment works to their satisfaction.

Indexed as

Categorical dataDistressFunctionOutcomesPainSuccess rate

Identifiers

PMID39239124
PMCPMC11372980

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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.