A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of reports of clinical trials published in six Brazilian dental journals indexed in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO)

dc.contributor.authorde Souza, Raphael Freitas
dc.contributor.authorde Chaves, Carolina Andrade Lima [UNESP]
dc.contributor.authorNasser, Mona
dc.contributor.authorFedorowicz, Zbys
dc.contributor.institutionUniversidade de São Paulo (USP)
dc.contributor.institutionMcGill University
dc.contributor.institutionUniversidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP)
dc.contributor.institutionInstitute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
dc.contributor.institutionThe Cochrane Collaboration
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-28T21:01:27Z
dc.date.available2022-04-28T21:01:27Z
dc.date.issued2010-01-01
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Open access publishing is becoming increasingly popular within the biomedical sciences. SciELO, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, is a digital library covering a selected collection of Brazilian scientific journals many of which provide open access to full-text articles. This library includes a number of dental journals some of which may include reports of clinical trials in English, Portuguese and/or Spanish. Thus, SciELO could play an important role as a source of evidence for dental healthcare interventions especially if it yields a sizeable number of high quality reports. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify reports of clinical trials by handsearching of dental journals that are accessible through SciELO, and to assess the overall quality of these reports. Material and methods: Electronic versions of six Brazilian dental Journals indexed in SciELO were handsearched at www.scielo.br in September 2008. Reports of clinical trials were identified and classified as controlled clinical trials (CCTs - prospective, experimental studies comparing 2 or more healthcare interventions in human beings) or randomized controlled trials (RCTs - a random allocation method is clearly reported), according to Cochrane eligibility criteria. Criteria to assess methodological quality included: method of randomization, concealment of treatment allocation, blinded outcome assessment, handling of withdrawals and losses and whether an intention-to-treat analysis had been carried out. Results: The search retrieved 33 CCTs and 43 RCTs. A majority of the reports provided no description of either the method of randomization (75.3%) or concealment of the allocation sequence (84.2%). Participants and outcome assessors were reported as blinded in only 31.2% of the reports. Withdrawals and losses were only clearly described in 6.5% of the reports and none mentioned an intention-to-treat analysis or any similar procedure. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that a substantial number of reports of trials and systematic reviews are available in the dental journals listed in SciELO, and that these could provide valuable evidence for clinical decision making. However, it is clear that the quality of a number of these reports is of some concern and that improvement in the conduct and reporting of these trials could be achieved if authors adhered to internationally accepted guidelines, e.g. the CONSORT statement.en
dc.description.affiliationDepartment of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics Ribeirão Preto Dental School University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP
dc.description.affiliationFaculty of Dentistry McGill University, Montréal, QC
dc.description.affiliationDepartment of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics Araraquara Dental School São Paulo State University, Araraquara, SP
dc.description.affiliationDepartment of Health Information Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care, Cologne
dc.description.affiliationThe Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre The Cochrane Collaboration, Awali
dc.description.affiliationUnespDepartment of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics Araraquara Dental School São Paulo State University, Araraquara, SP
dc.format.extent104-109
dc.identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1590/s1678-77572010000200002
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Applied Oral Science, v. 18, n. 2, p. 104-109, 2010.
dc.identifier.doi10.1590/s1678-77572010000200002
dc.identifier.issn1678-7765
dc.identifier.issn1678-7757
dc.identifier.scopus2-s2.0-77953672506
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11449/225891
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Applied Oral Science
dc.sourceScopus
dc.subjectBias
dc.subjectClinical trials as topic
dc.subjectEvidence-based medicine
dc.subjectJournalism, dental
dc.subjectRandomized controlled trials as topic
dc.titleA quantitative and qualitative evaluation of reports of clinical trials published in six Brazilian dental journals indexed in the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO)en
dc.typeResenha
unesp.campusUniversidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Faculdade de Odontologia, Araraquarapt
unesp.departmentMateriais Odontológicos e Prótese - FOARpt

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