Reporting of Race, Ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, and Educational Attainment in Traumatic Brain Injury Randomised Controlled Trials - How are we doing? A Systematic Review.

Rebecca Thorne, Dominic Fritche, Jessica Holmes, Sebastian Powell, Sami Rashed, Mark Emberton, Tim Lawrence, Maxine Tran, Lawrence Best

Abstract read

PubMed Publisher

In one paragraph

Article in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

9 authors.

Rebecca Thorne *Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle, UK.

Dominic Fritche *Emergency Department, Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, Camberley, Hastings, New Zealand.

Jessica HolmesHumber NHS Foundation Trust, Hull, UK.

Sebastian PowellUniversity Hospitals Portsmouth NHS Foundation Trust, Portsmouth, UK.

Sami RashedNeurosurgical Department, Queens Hospital Romford NHS Foundation Trust, Romford, UK.

Mark EmbertonDivision of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK.

Tim LawrenceNuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Maxine TranDivision of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK.

Lawrence BestNewcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle, UK. lawrence.best@newcastle.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1923-0896

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Patient race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and educational attainment (Equality, diversity and Inclusion (EDI) characteristics) are related to patient outcome in traumatic brain injury (TBI). To minimise disparities in outcome, it is important to identify these distinct groups while evaluating treatment strategies. This systematic review assesses reporting of participant EDI characteristics in TBI randomised controlled trials (RCTs). We performed a comprehensive database search strategy to identify TBI RCTs until 2023 with a repeat search in 2025 to allow for full reporting of results. 443 RCTs described in a full text were included. Of these only 183 RCTs (41%) reported any EDI characteristics of included individuals. There is no evidence of reporting improving over time (OR = 1.02, 95% CI [0.98, 1.06], p = .338). Of RCTs reporting race 79.5% of included participants were white, 13.8% were black, 1.8% were Asian and 2.3% were indigenous. Multinational recruitment, larger study size and higher journal impact factor were not associated with a greater likelihood of reporting EDI characteristics. RCTs conducted in the US were found to have a much higher rate of reporting EDI data than those conducted elsewhere (70% vs. 25%, χ

Indexed as

DiversityEqualityInclusionTraumatic brain injury

Identifiers

PMID42509518

DOI10.1016/j.cct.2020.106237

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

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.