Friday, March 26, 2010

[EQ] Seven mistakes and potential solutions in epidemiology - a call for a World Council of Epidemiology and Causality

Seven mistakes and potential solutions in epidemiology,
including a call for a World Council of Epidemiology and Causality

 

 

R S Bhopal, Bruce and John Usher Professor of Public Health, Public Health Sciences Section

Centre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh UK

Emerging Themes in Epidemiology – December 2009, 6:6doi:10.1186/1742-7622-6-6

Available online at: http://www.ete-online.com/content/pdf/1742-7622-6-6.pdf

 

All sciences make mistakes, and epidemiology is no exception. I have chosen 7 illustrative mistakes and derived 7 solutions to avoid them. The mistakes (Roman numerals denoting solutions) are:

 

1. Failing to provide the context and definitions of study populations. (I Describe the study population in detail)

 

2. Insufficient attention to evaluation of error. (II Don't pretend error does not exist.)

 

3. Not demonstrating comparisons are like-for-like. (III Start with detailed comparisons of groups.)

 

4. Either overstatement or understatement of the case for causality. (IV Never say this design cannot contribute to causality or imply causality is ensured by your design.)

 

5. Not providing both absolute and relative summary measures. (V Give numbers, rates and comparative measures, and adjust summary measures such as odds ratios appropriately.)

 

6. In intervention studies not demonstrating general health benefits. (VI Ensure general benefits (mortality/morbidity) before recommending application of cause-specific findings.)

 

7. Failure to utilise study data to benefit populations. (VII Establish a World Council on Epidemiology to help infer causality from associations and apply the work internationally.)

 

Analysis of these and other common mistakes is needed to benefit from the increasing discovery of associations that will be multiplying as data mining, linkage, and large-scale scale epidemiology become commonplace….”

 

 

Departmental website:   http://www.chs.med.ed.ac.uk


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[EQ] Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement 2010

CONSORT 2010 Statement published

 

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
24 March 2010

 

Available online at: http://www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/overview0/

New guidance to improve the reporting of trial findings was published simultaneously on 24 March 2010 by nine leading journals around the world
- BMJ, Annals of Internal Medicine, BMC Medicine, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, The Lancet, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Open Medicine, PLoS Medicine, and Trials.

 

Full and transparent reporting of trials is crucial to ensure that decisions about health care are based on the best available evidence.

 

The latest version, CONSORT 2010 (1), improves the specificity and clarity of the previous checklist. Several new items will also make it easier for decision makers to judge the soundness of trial results. A separate explanatory paper (2), also published in the BMJ and the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology provides published examples of transparent reporting and elaborates on the empirical evidence that forms the basis for the guidance…..”

 

DOWNLOADS

CONSORT Statement 2010:

·         Annals of Internal Medicine (PDF)(HTML)

·         BMC Medicine (HTML)

·         BMJ (PDF)(HTML)

·         Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (PDF)

·         Lancet (PDF)

·         Open Medicine (PDF)(HTML)

·         PLoS Medicine (PDF)(HTML)

·         Trials (HTML)

CONSORT 2010 Explanation and Elaboration Document:

·         BMJ (PDF)(HTML)

·         Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (PDF)



Related articles:

Moher D, Hopewell S, Schulz KF, Montori V, Gotzsche PC, Devereaux PJ, Elbourne D, Egger M, Altman DG.
CONSORT 2010 Explanation and Elaboration: updated guidelines for reporting parallel group randomised trials.
BMJ  2010;340: c869-c869 [Full text]   

Hopewell S, Dutton S, Yu LM, Chan AW, Altman DG.
The quality of reports of randomised trials in 2000 and 2006:
comparative study of articles indexed in PubMed. BMJ 2010;340:c723 [Full text].

Antes, G. The new CONSORT statement.
BMJ  2010;340: c1432-c1432 [Full text]   

Williams HC. Cars,
CONSORT 2010, and Clinical Practice. Trials 2010, 11:33 [full text]

The Lancet, 24 March 2010

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60456-4 CONSORT 2010
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60456-4/fulltext

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
Twitter http://twitter.com/eqpaho


    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.