Methodological reporting quality of randomized controlled trials in three spine journals from 2010 to 2012.

Abstract

To elucidate the methodological reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in three spine journals from 2010 to 2012. In this study, we summarized the methodological report of RCTs in three major spine journals, including the Spine Journal, Spine and the European Spine Journal from 2010 to 2012. The methodological reporting quality, including the allocation sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding and sample size calculation, was revealed. Number of patients, funding source, type of intervention and country were also retrieved from each trial. The methodological reporting quality was descriptively reported. Ninety trials were involved and 57.8% (52/90) reported adequate allocation sequence generation, 46.7% (42/90) reported adequate allocation concealment, 34.4% (31/90) reported adequate blinding and 37.8% (34/90) reported adequate sample size calculation. This study shows that the methodological reporting quality of RCTs in the spine field needs further improvement.