Reporting of effect direction and size in abstracts of systematic reviews

Ref ID 639
First Author E. M. Beller
Journal JAMA
Year Of Publishing 2011
URL https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/articlepdf/1731849/jlt1109_1981_1982.pdf
Keywords Cochrane
Abstract / summary
Statistical
Error
General medical
Problem(s) Errors in systematic review abstracts or plain language summaries
Number of systematic reviews included 182
Summary of Findings For 42% of abstracts of systematic reviews, the direction of the main effect either could not be determined or needed to be inferred. Statistical uncertainty was also poorly reported: 24% of abstracts reported neither a confidence interval nor a P value.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? Yes
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes