| Ref ID | 829 |
| First Author | B. Heigle |
| Journal | ANNALS OF OTOLOGY, RHINOLOGY & LARYNGOLOGY |
| Year Of Publishing | 2021 |
| URL | https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00034894211000493?casa_token=J162T6TBxnYAAAAA:3SC2jWki5u-vYFmpKAM6iq9ILiOtjm8zUduW6WdFg4Flt4LkesQogCyi2uWTOxh447wRtbTEOtupCA |
| Keywords |
• Spin • Abstract / summary • Otolaryngology • Non-Cochrane reviews |
| Problem(s) |
• Spin or subjective interpretation of findings • Errors in systematic review abstracts or plain language summaries • Low methodological (AMSTAR) quality |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Meta-epidemiological analysis |
| First Author Country | United States |
| Checklists |
• AMSTAR 2 |
| Aim | To assess the presence of spin in abstracts of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of Ménière’s disease treatment indexed in MEDLINE and Embase on May 28, 2020. |
| Level of Investigation | Analytical |
| Summary of Findings | Of the 36 included studies, 22 (61.1%) abstracts contained spin while 14 (38.9%) did not. The most common spin types were selective reporting of benefit (10/36, 27.8%) or harm (8/36, 22.2%). Other types of spin occurred when findings were extrapolated to the global improvement of the disease (5/36, 13.9%), beneficial effects were reported with high risk of bias in primary studies (3/36, 8.3%), and when beneficial effects were extrapolated to an entire class of interventions (1/36, 2.8%). Abstracts containing spin were substantively associated with studies of critically low methodological quality compared with studies with low and moderate quality. No studies had a methodological rating of high quality. No associations were observed between spin and intervention types, journal recommendation of adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, or funding. There was a negative correlation (r=−.31) between abstract word limit and presence of spin. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 36 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 160 |
| Treatment impacted | No |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | Not Applicable |
| Interpretation impacted description |