Spin is Prevalent in Abstracts of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses of Anterolateral Ligament Reconstruction and Lateral Extra-Articular Tenodesis.

Purpose: To analyze the incidence of spin in the abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating anterolateral ligament augmentation or lateral extra-articular tenodesis as treatment for anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Method: Studies were identified using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analysis guidelines searching PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus in November 2023. The abstracts were graded for the incidence of the 15 most common types of spin, and full texts were reviewed for AMSTAR 2 classification. General demographics were identified, including study title, author, journal of publication, year of publication, level of evidence, study design, and funding. Fisher's exact test was used to compare study metrics. Results: Twenty-two studies met final inclusion criteria. Thirteen studies were related to LET, and 12 were related to ALL with three relevant to both. At least 4 forms of spin were observed in the studies with a maximum of 11 observed. Spin type 9 ("Conclusion claims the beneficial effect of the experimental treatment despite reporting bias.") was the overall most reported across all studies with 21 out of 22 studies reporting it. There was a significant correlation between the incidence of spin type 10 ("Authors hide or do not present any conflict of interest.") with lower Level of Evidence ( Conclusions: Spin is highly prevalent in abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating anterolateral ligament augmentation and lateral extra-articular tenodesis reconstruction. Level of Evidence: Level IV, systematic review of Level III-IV studies.