Abstracts in high profile journals often fail to report harm

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To describe how frequently harm is reported in the abstract of high impact factor medical journals.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><it>Design and population</it>: We carried out a blinded structured review of a random sample of 363 Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) carried out on human beings, and published in high impact factor medical journals in 2003. <it>Main endpoint</it>: 1) Proportion of articles reporting harm in the abstract; and 2) Proportion of articles that reported harm in the abstract when harm was reported in the main body of the article. <it>Analysis</it>: Corrected Prevalence Ratio (cPR) and its exact confidence interval were calculated. Non-conditional logistic regression was used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>363 articles and 407 possible comparisons were studied. Overall, harm was reported in 135 abstracts [37.2% (CI95%:32.2 to 42.4)]. Harm was reported in the main text of 243 articles [66.9% (CI95%: 61.8 to 71.8)] and was statistically significant in 54 articles [14.9% (CI95%: 11.4 to 19.0)]. Among the 243 articles that mentioned harm in the text, 130 articles [53.5% (CI95% 47.0 to 59.9)] reported harm in the abstract; a figure that rose to 75.9% (CI95%: 62.4 to 86.5) when the harm reported in the text was statistically significant. Harm in the abstract was more likely to be reported when statistically significant harm was reported in the main body of the article [cPR = 1.70 (CI95% 1.47 to 1.92)] and when drug companies (not public institutions) funded the RCTs [cPR = 1.29 (CI95% 1.03 to 1.67)].</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Abstracts published in high impact factor medical journals underreport harm, even when harm is reported in the main body of the article.</p

Gender differences in the use of cardiovascular interventions in HIV-positive persons; the D:A:D Study

Peer reviewe

ANTHOCYANINS OF THE BRAZILIAN FRUIT CYPHOMANDRA-BETACEAE

12318919

SOLANUM-AMERICANUM AS A SOURCE OF ANTHOCYANINS FOR USE IN FOODS

16215515

EFFECT OF LIGHT AND TANNIC-ACID ON THE STABILITY OF ANTHOCYANIN IN DMSO AND IN WATER

The stability to light of cyanidin-3-glucosyl arabinoside in DMSO and in water, in acid solutions with or without complexation with tannic acid was determined by measuring the decrease of the absorbance of the solutions. The values for the apparent first-order reaction rate constant and t(1/2) were calculated. The hypochromic effect observed in DMSO solutions when tannic acid was added as a co-pigment prevented the calculation of the complexation constant (K) for the anthocyanin-tannic acid, indicating that the predominating form in this system is the AH(+). Although loss of absorbance was considerably faster in DMSO than in water under the same conditions, tannic acid effectively retarded discoloration in both DMSO and water.51218318