Assessment of the methodological quality of reporting of randomized trials in four Iranian healthcare journals

Abstract EN

Objective : To assess the quality of reporting randomized trials in four Iranian healthcare journals.

Setting : Iran.

Design : Short survey.

Method : Four Iranian healthcare journals were handsearched for reports of randomized controlled trials classified using The Cochrane Collaboration eligibility criteria for studies for inclusion in systematic reviews.

Quality of reporting of the trials was assessed independently by two authors (MN, AA) for four dimensions: randomized sequence generation, allocation sequence concealment, blinding of outcome assessment and intention to treat analysis.

Any disagreements were resolved through discussion with a third author (ZF).

Result : In total, reports of 75 randomized controlled trials reported in the four Iranian healthcare journals were assessed.

Blinding was the best reported dimension (32 %, 24 / 75) and intention to treat analysis the least (0 % 0 / 75).

Sequence generation and allocation sequence concealment were infrequently reported (12%, 9 / 75 and 3%, 2 / 75 respectively).

Conclusion : There is room for improving the reporting of randomized trials in four Iranian healthcare journals.

Authors and editors should be encouraged to follow guidance in the CONSORT Statement for improving the quality of reporting of parallel-group randomized trials (RCTs) and in the recent extension to CONSORT for reporting RCTs in abstracts in journals and conference proceedings.