Authors seldom report the most patient-important outcomes and absolute effect measures in systematic review abstracts

作者：Agarwal, Arnav; Johnston, Bradley C.^*; Vemooij, Robin W. M.; Carrasco-Labra, Alonso; Brignardello-Petersen, Romina; Neumann, Ignacio; Akl, Elie A.; Sun, Xin; Briel, Matthias; Busse, Jason W.; Ebrahim, Shanil; Granados, Carlos E.; Iorio, Alfonso; Irfan, Affan; Martinez Garcia, Laura; Mustafa, Reem A.; Ramirez-Morera, Anggie; Selva, Anna; Sola, Ivan; Sanabrai, Andrea J.; Tikkinen, Kari A. O.; Vandviks, Per O.; Zhang, Yuqing; Zazueta, Oscar E.; Zhou, Qi; Schunemann, Holger J.

来源：Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2017, 81: 3-12.

DOI：10.1016/j.jclinepi.2016.08.004

• Absolute measures
• Patient-important outcomes
• Explicit reporting
• Abstract reporting
• Cochrane reviews
• Non-Cochrane reviews

Objectives: Explicit reporting of absolute measures is important to ensure treatment effects are correctly interpreted. We examined the extent to which authors report absolute effects for patient-important outcomes in abstracts of systematic review (SR). @@@ Study Design and Setting: We searched OVID MEDLINE and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews to identify eligible SRs published in the year 2010. Citations were stratified into Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews, with repeated random sampling in a 1:1 ratio. Paired reviewers screened articles and recorded abstract characteristics, including reporting of effect measures for the most patient-important outcomes of benefit and harm. @@@ Results: We included 96 Cochrane and 94 non-Cochrane reviews. About 117 (77.5%) relative measures were reported in abstracts for outcomes of benefit, whereas only 34 (22.5%) absolute measures were reported. Similarly, for outcomes of harm, 41 (87.2%) relative measures were provided in abstracts, compared with only 6 (12.8%) absolute measures. Eighteen (9.5%) abstracts reported both absolute and relative measures for outcomes of benefit, whereas only two (1.1%) abstracts reported both measures for outcomes of harm. Results were similar between Cochrane and non-Cochrane reviews. @@@ Conclusion: SR abstracts seldom report measures of absolute effect. Journal editors should insist that authors report both relative and absolute effects for patient-important outcomes.

• 出版日期2017-1
• 单位四川大学