European Journal of

Pediatrics

Annotation

9 Springer-Verlag1990

Eur J Pediatr (1990) 149: 822-824

Thoughts of a reviewer H. J. Schmitt Children's Hospital, Johannes Gutenberg University, Langenbeckstrasse ~, D-6500 Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany Received November 17, 1989 / Accepted December 7, 1989

Key words: Clinical studies - Study design

Introduction Clinical investigations are often considered to represent the royalty of medical studies because:

1. Human beings are the object, often requiring difficult ethical as well as special technical considerations. 2. They are the ultimate method of proving the efficacy or usefulness of new diagnostic tools or of new therapy. 3. They may disclose new developments in clinical science such as epidemics, or new diseases, or m a y provide a unique insight into the pathophysiology of disease. In recent years much has been learned about clinical studies - how to plan, to conduct, and to evaluate them [1, 3-8]. Studies that do not consider these improved approaches may lead to results and conclusions that are not accepted by reviewing peers and that will therefore not be published. They represent a lost opportunity to increase knowledge and improve patient care. It should also be considered that investigations involving patients are difficult to justify unless conducted in the best possible manner. G o o d articles are a pleasure to review. On the other hand, poor-quality papers severely tax a reviewer's goodwill. It is depressing for a reviewer to have to reject a p a p e r after having invested an average of about 4h. His or her only compensation m a y be the hope that, perhaps, the authors will accept and learn from constructive criticism. It is particularly disappointing to encounter a study that never had a chance of producing valid results because it was poorly designed. In this case, even major a m e n d m e n t s and changes in the manuscript will not render the resulting p a p e r publishable.

Different study designs Clinical studies can be divided into two basic types: "descriptive" and "explanatory" (Table 1).

Descriptive studies include case reports, case series, or clinical series (e.g. treatment of 25 patients with pneumonia). They are non-explanatory, i.e. they cannot document the efficacy of a new treatment or diagnostic test and cannot explain the cause of a disease. However, descriptive studies are important because they m a y communicate unusual observations or a new experience. Good descriptive studies make a journal more stimulating to the reader by offering new ideas and promoting discus-

Table 1. Basic study designs (modified from [3]) 1. Descriptive studies

a. Case report b. Case series c. Clinical series 2. Explanatory studies 1. Observational studies a. Case control b, Follow-up

c. Retrospective follow-up c. Cross sectional

2. Experimental Studies a. Clinical trial

Report first new information; cannot explain the "why", but may give a first clue that warrants further studies Unique observation Cluster of unusual cases, e.g. first report on AIDS e.g. first experience with a new treatment Use comparison Start with "outcome" and compare to group without this outcome Population with or without known risk factor is followed over time to observe development of an outcome Follows occurrence of an outcome in a population based on information from the past Selects a population and measures outcome and possible predictors at the same time ("prevalence study") Selects population, assigns different interventions and compares outcome between the groups

823 sion. Furthermore, they are often the basis of and the ethical justification for further research with "explanatory studies".

Explanatory studies compare and answer questions like: Is intervention A more effective than intervention B? Is side-effect X related to drug Y? Which laboratory finding predicts a given outcome? What is the prevalence of a symptom in a population? Authors wishing to explain a finding may utilize either "observational" or "experimental" study designs (Table 1). Observational approaches are case control studies, follow-up studies, retrospective follow-up studies, or cross sectional studies. Case control studies start with individuals that already have a particular outcome (e.g. pneumococcal pneumonia) and compare these to individuals without this outcome. Investigators search for factors (e.g. splenectomy or serum concentration of complement) that might have caused the outcome (e.g. pneumococcal pneumonia). Follow-up designs start with a population that has not yet experienced the outcome. The observer measures characteristics of the population under study (e.g. splenectomy or serum concentration of complement). He or she then observes the population to determine who will eventually develop the outcome (e.g. pneumococcal pneumonia). Obviously, a case control study is "retrospective" and a "follow-up study" is "prospective". However, the terms retrospective and prospective alone do not describe a study design: a study may use both approaches simultaneously. In a "retrospective follow-up study" a population is selected (e.g. from hospital charts) and classified according to the presence or absence of various factors (e.g. serum concentrations of complement or splenectomy). This population is followed from the past to the present and into the future for the development of the outcome (e.g. pneumococcal pneumonia). The advantage of this particular approach is to save observation time. The disadvantage is the limited and sometimes biased availability of appropriate information from charts and other sources. The cross-sectional design (= prevalence study) is a mixture of a case control and a follow-up study: After selecting a study population, outcome and possible predictors are measured simultaneously. A cross-sectional study may find, for example, that during a 1-year period 10 out of 20 patients drinking large quantities of alcohol (= risk factor) develop pneumococcal pneumonia (= outcome) compared to i out of 100 who did not drink at all. In experimental studies the researcher selects a study population, and assigns individuals from this population to different interventions (e.g. infusion of immunoglobulins). The outcomes of the respecitve groups are then compared (e.g. development of pneumonia). Experimental studies are the most reliable to prove or explain hypotheses. However, they require entry and exclusion criteria, detailed monitoring of compliance, proper ran-

domization and a strictly controlled, reproducible evaluation of the outcome, to mention only a few problems. "Randomized, double-blind clinical trials" are widely accepted as the "gold standard" for evaluating therapeutic efficacy. However, different studies may produce contradictory results. This may be produced by different eligibility criteria, population differences, and variability in the indications used for test intervention, among others. Thus, even experimental studies do not necessarily "prove the truth", but require careful evaluation and judgement [4]. Even if a controlled trial should "prove" the efficacy of a therapy, the results may still be worthless in a practical sense. For example, one study indicated that the use of a particular substance reduced the occurrence of traveller's diarrhoea by 60% [2]. However, to treat himself during a 3-week vacation, a tourist would have to carry 21 bottles of medicine, weighing about 201bs! Thus the approach was not practical and, from that standpoint at least, useluss. Avoiding problems associated with special designs what the reviewer wants to know

Each study design has its own pitfalls. Authors should be aware of the typical shortcomings of the study design they are using and indicate in their paper what they did to avoid or to overcome this problem. A frank discussion of weak points in the study will help to convince the reviewer that the study findings may be close to the truth. A reviewer will always look for strict case definitions and proof that the disease under discussion was present in the patients contained in descriptive studies. Authors should formulate their conclusions carefully, suggesting an explanatory study is necessary to confirm their findings. When information from the past is used to arrive at a specific conclusion, it is essential for the authors to prove that data were collected in a standardized manner, were complete, and that there are no biases of recall. Much care should be given to the question how a "case", a "population", or a "contral group" was selected and defined. In a follow-up study, the number of patients lost is critical and the reasons why this happened and why others might have "dropped out" should always be listed. Experimental study requirements, among others, include strict entry and exclusion criteria, an unbiased randomization method, and adequate blinding where necessary. No journal will publish a study that was performed without prior written informed consent of the subjects and approval of the appropriate institutional review boards, when this is applicable. The final step: considerations prior to writing up the study

Before beginning to write a paper, the authors should ask themselves what their main message will be. It should be possible to condense this message into one or

824

Table 2. Items to be considered when preparing an abstract for the European Journal of Pediatrics. Not more than one page may be used. Questions should be answered where applicable. The final question should be: Is the information useful and new for the reader of the European Journal of Pediatrics? (Abstract form modified from the Annals of Internal Medicine) I. Study objective (which question was answered?) II. Study design (explain in detail what was done) III. Setting (private practice, primary care hospital etc.) IV. Patients (written consent form? entry/exclusion criteria? number of evaluable patients? drop-outs?) V. Interventions (randomization, standardization, therapy, diagnostics etc.) VI. Material/methods/measurements (statistics; evaluation of outcome) VII. Main results (what was the new finding?) VIII. Conclusions

two sentences. T h e n the journal m o s t likely to be interested in the subject should be selected and the most appropriate f o r m a t chosen (letter to the editor, case report etc.). E a c h journal has its own "Instructions to authors", which provide detailed information as to h o w the p a p e r must be prepared. A c c u r a c y (e.g. w h e n citing the literature), brevity (e.g. avoiding excessive speculation in the Discussion section), and clarity (no long or complicated sentences) should d o m i n a t e the style of presentation. Details like appropriate scientific n o m e n c l a t u r e are i m p o r t a n t and correct g r a m m a r is n e e d e d if the presentation is in a language other than the a u t h o r ' s own. If it is English, it needs to be r e m e m b e r e d that this language is one of the easiest to learn, but one of the m o s t difficult to master. Extreme care should be given to formulating the abstract. Table 2 provides a checklist with items that should be included in a g o o d abstract.

General aspects of the evaluation of a study O n c e a reviewer b e c o m e s aware of the basics of a study, he or she will evaluate the article f r o m the point of view of an expert in the field. This is the "fun part" of reviewing. T h e questions that a reviewer must answer are w h e t h e r materials and m e t h o d s were used correctly and

Table 3. Sections of an article and basic questions for evaluation Study Question Important? Timely? Patients Selection? Informed consent? Materials and methods Appropriate? State of the art? Correctly done? Correct design? Results Plausible? Truth? Conclusions Does design allow conclusion? Other interpretations possible? Do data support conclusion? Progress Main message? New? Useful?

w h e t h e r they were appropriate to answer the question u n d e r study (Table 3). Statistical analysis will strengthen the findings, p r o v i d e d the correct tests are applied and interpreted within their respective limits. T h e reviewer will then ask if the results are plausible, h o w close they m a y be to the truth, and w h e t h e r they really support the a u t h o r ' s conclusions. It is the a u t h o r ' s responsibility to prove what is claimed, and the p r o o f must be sufficient to convince the reviewer.

Acknowledgements. The author is greatly indebted to Drs. H. F. Eichenwald, J. Spranger, L. Corbeel and A. Fanconi for their criticism.

References 1. Bailar JC, Mosteller F (1988) Guidelines for statistical reporting in articles for medical journals. Ann Intern Med 108 : 266-273 2. Dupont HL, Sullivan P, Evans DG, Pickering LK, Evans D J, Vollet JJ, Ericsson CD, Ackerman PB, Tjoa WS (1980) Prevention of traveller's diarrhea. JAMA 243 : 237-241 3. Gehlbach SH (1982) Interpreting the medical literature; a clinician's guide. Macmillan, New York 4. Horwitz RI (1987) Complexity and contradiction in clinical trial research. Am J Med 82 : 498-510 5. Huth EJ (1987) Medical style and format. ISI Press, Philadelphia 6. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1988) Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Ann Intern Med 108 : 258-265 7. Mulrow CD (1987) The medical review article: state of the science. Ann Intern Med 106 : 485-488 8, Tyson JE, Reisch JS (1989) Critical evaluation of therapeutic studies and of treatment recommendations. In: Eichenwald HF, Str6der J (eds) Current therapy in pediatrics, 2. Decker, Toronto, pp 1-12

Thoughts of a reviewer - Springer Link

or usefulness of new diagnostic tools or of new therapy. 3. They may disclose new developments in clinical sci- ence such as epidemics, or new diseases, or may provide a unique insight into the pathophysiology of disease. In recent years much has been learned about clinical studies - how to plan, to conduct, and to ...

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