Survey of new 2007 and 2011 Cochrane reviews found 37% of prespecified outcomes not reported

Ref ID 496
First Author V. Smith
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2015
URL https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(14)00398-9/pdf
Keywords • Pre-specification
• General medical
• Cochrane
• Multiplicity
Problem(s) • Multiplicity of outcomes and lack of pre-specification for outcome reporting
• Failure to define clinically meaningful outcomes
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Ireland
Aim To assess the outcomes used in Cochrane Reviews divided by Cochrane Review Group, published in full for the first time in 2007 and 2011
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings A total of 6,127 specified outcomes were listed in the methods sections of the included reviews. 37% of included reviews specified outcomes that were not reported. For non-reported specified outcomes, 23% were not reported because of non-measurement in the included studies or insufficient data to report. However, for 14% of non-reported outcomes, no reason could be identified in the text of the review for why the outcome was not reported. Of the new reviews with studies from 2011 which had included studies (i.e., were not empty reviews), 31% had a ‘‘summary of findings’’ table.
Number of systematic reviews included 788
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 788
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description