Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, UK.
Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, UK.
Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg. 2014 Mar;47(3):240-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ejvs.2013.11.007. Epub 2013 Dec 3.
It is common for authors to introduce a paper by demonstrating the importance of the clinical condition being addressed, usually by quoting data such as mortality and prevalence rates. Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) epidemiology is changing, and therefore such figures for AAA are subject to error. The aim of this study was to analyse the accuracy of AAA prevalence and mortality citations in the contemporaneous literature.
Two separate literature searches were performed using PubMed to identify studies reporting either aneurysm prevalence or mortality. The first 40 articles or those published over the last 2 years were included in each search to provide a snapshot of current trends. For a prevalence citation to be appropriate, a paper had to cite an original article publishing its own prevalence of AAA or a national report. In addition, the cited prevalence should match that published within the referenced article. These reported statistics were compared with the most recent data on aneurysm-related mortality.
The prevalence of AAA was reported to be as low as 1% and as high as 12.7% (mean 5.7%, median 5%). Only 47.5% of studies had referenced original articles, national reports or NICE, and only 32.4% of cited prevalences matched those from the referenced article. In total 5/40 studies were completely accurate. 80% of studies cited aneurysm mortality in the USA, with the majority stating 15,000 deaths per year (range 9,000 to 30,000). Current USA crude AAA mortality is 6,289 (2010).
References for AAA mortality and prevalence reported in the current literature are often inaccurate. This study highlights the importance of accurately reporting mortality and prevalence data and using up-to-date citations.
作者通常通过引用死亡率和患病率等数据来证明所研究临床病症的重要性，从而引出一篇论文。腹主动脉瘤（AAA）的流行病学正在发生变化，因此 AAA 的这些数据可能存在误差。本研究旨在分析当代文献中 AAA 患病率和死亡率引用的准确性。
使用 PubMed 进行了两次独立的文献检索，以确定报告动脉瘤患病率或死亡率的研究。每个检索都包括前 40 篇文章或过去 2 年发表的文章，以了解当前的趋势。对于患病率的引用，文章必须引用发表其自身 AAA 患病率或国家报告的原始文章。此外，引用的患病率应与参考文章中发表的患病率相匹配。将这些报告的统计数据与最近关于动脉瘤相关死亡率的数据进行了比较。
AAA 的患病率低至 1%，高至 12.7%（平均值为 5.7%，中位数为 5%）。只有 47.5%的研究引用了原始文章、国家报告或 NICE，只有 32.4%的引用患病率与参考文章中的患病率相匹配。在总共 40 篇研究中，只有 5 篇完全准确。80%的研究引用了美国的动脉瘤死亡率，其中大多数报告每年有 15000 人死亡（范围为 9000 至 30000）。目前美国的 AAA 粗死亡率为 6289（2010 年）。
当前文献中报告的 AAA 死亡率和患病率的参考文献往往不准确。本研究强调了准确报告死亡率和患病率数据以及使用最新参考文献的重要性。
