Developing a register of randomised controlled trials in primary care.

Abstract

To determine the number, nature, site of publication, and feasibility of identifying randomised controlled trials relevant to primary care. Review of literature using three strategies: approaching journal editors, Medline search, and manual search of individual journals. Journals containing publications of studies based in primary care. The number, site of publication, and subject of trials identified. No journal had a system which enabled identification of all the randomised controlled trials it published. 266 trials relevant to primary care were identified from 110 different journals during 1987-91 by Medline. Of these, only 62 trials were published in primary care journals. Hand searching of seven major primary care research journals showed that between 13% and 38% of the trials had been missed by the Medline search. Of the trials identified, 47 (18%) were concerned with mental disease (including neuroses, tobacco misuse and alcohol misuse) and 43 (16%) were concerned with hypertension. Given the diversity of publication sources and topics, this supports the need for a centrally based register of randomised controlled trials that may be relevant to primary care overviews in the future.