Impact of STROBE statement publication on quality of observational study reporting: interrupted time series versus before-after analysis

In uncontrolled before-after studies, CONSORT was shown to improve the reporting of randomised trials. Before-after studies ignore underlying secular trends and may overestimate the impact of interventions. Our aim was to assess the impact of the 2007 STROBE statement publication on the quality of o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-08, Vol.8 (8), p.e64733-e64733
Main Authors: Bastuji-Garin, Sylvie, Sbidian, Emilie, Gaudy-Marqueste, Caroline, Ferrat, Emilie, Roujeau, Jean-Claude, Richard, Marie-Aleth, Canoui-Poitrine, Florence
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abstracting and Indexing
Archives & records
Bibliometrics
Case-Control Studies
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dermatology
Dermatology - methods
Epidemiology
Medicine
Observational studies
Observational Studies as Topic
Public health
Publishing - standards
Quality
Regression Analysis
Report writing
Reporting
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design
Studies
Time Factors
Time series
Trends
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Summary:In uncontrolled before-after studies, CONSORT was shown to improve the reporting of randomised trials. Before-after studies ignore underlying secular trends and may overestimate the impact of interventions. Our aim was to assess the impact of the 2007 STROBE statement publication on the quality of observational study reporting, using both uncontrolled before-after analyses and interrupted time series. For this quasi-experimental study, original articles reporting cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies published between 2004 and 2010 in the four dermatological journals having the highest 5-year impact factors (≥ 4) were selected. We compared the proportions of STROBE items (STROBE score) adequately reported in each article during three periods, two pre STROBE period (2004-2005 and 2006-2007) and one post STROBE period (2008-2010). Segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series was also performed. Of the 456 included articles, 187 (41%) reported cohort studies, 166 (36.4%) cross-sectional studies, and 103 (22.6%) case-control studies. The median STROBE score was 57% (range, 18%-98%). Before-after analysis evidenced significant STROBE score increases between the two pre-STROBE periods and between the earliest pre-STROBE period and the post-STROBE period (median score2004-05 48% versus median score2008-10 58%, p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0064733