Khairnar Mahesh R, Naveen Kumar P G, Kusumakar Ananta, Akram Zainab, Sabharwal Harloveen, Jadhav Sachin
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Indian J Dent Res. 2023 Jul-Sep;34(3):308-311. doi: 10.4103/ijdr.ijdr_766_22.
In randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the application of a test of significance to compare the baseline differences between the intervention groups is a common practice, though it has been condemned by many researchers.
This study aimed to assess the proportion of RCTs on human participants comparing the baseline differences between intervention groups using the test of significance in nine dental specialty journals published in India and to estimate the proportion of studies reporting baseline demographic and clinical characteristics in a table.
RCTs published in nine dental journals published by dental specialty associations of India were screened. A literature search was limited to the time duration of five years from 2017 to 2021.
The authors analysed 326 RCTs. Of 326 RCTs published, 237 RCTs (72.7%) did not report the baseline demographic and clinical characteristics table. Tests of significance were applied to compare baseline differences between the intervention arms in 148 (45.4%) RCTs published.
Although criticised by the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement, the majority of the trials published in dental specialty journals failed to avoid comparison of baseline differences with significance test and failed to report baseline characteristic table.
在随机对照试验（RCT）中，应用显著性检验来比较干预组之间的基线差异是一种常见做法，尽管许多研究人员对此表示谴责。
本研究旨在评估印度出版的九种牙科专业期刊中，对人体参与者进行的随机对照试验使用显著性检验比较干预组之间基线差异的比例，并估计以表格形式报告基线人口统计学和临床特征的研究比例。
筛选印度牙科专业协会出版的九种牙科期刊上发表的随机对照试验。文献检索限于2017年至2021年的五年时间。
作者分析了326项随机对照试验。在发表的326项随机对照试验中，237项（72.7%）未报告基线人口统计学和临床特征表。在发表的148项（45.4%）随机对照试验中，应用显著性检验来比较干预组之间的基线差异。
尽管受到《报告试验的统一标准》（CONSORT）声明的批评，但牙科专业期刊上发表的大多数试验未能避免使用显著性检验比较基线差异，也未能报告基线特征表。
