Prado Mayara Colpo, Dotto Lara, Agostini Bernardo, Sarkis-Onofre Rafael
Graduate Program in Dentistry, ATITUS Educação, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
School of Dentistry, Regional Integrated University of High Uruguay and Missions, Erechim, RS, Brazil.
Braz Dent J. 2024 Dec 16;35:e246233. doi: 10.1590/0103-644020246233. eCollection 2024.
This meta-research sought to evaluate the conduct, reporting, and main characteristics of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in dentistry. A search was performed on PubMed for RCTs in dentistry indexed from 31 December 2016 to 31 December 2021. Two reviewers independently screened the studies for the presence of eligibility criteria. Only studies in English were considered. Journal and author data, subject, citation and publishing metrics, reporting, and details of study conduct were collected. A descriptive analysis of the data, a map depicting the number of RCTs per country, and a network graph of scientific collaboration among different countries were presented. We included 844 articles. The main research area was periodontics (16.35%). The highest number of RCTs was attributed to Brazil (16.59%). Authors from the USA established the most links with other countries. Most studies did not report the use of CONSORT (67.89%), the type of randomization (69.31%), or the mechanism used to implement the random allocation sequence (52.37%). However, most studies included "randomized" in the title (71.92%) and reported the method for generating a random allocation sequence (65.88%) and blinding (74.88%). RCTs are the basis for clinical decision-making. Our results provide a better view of current RCTs and identify areas that require improvement. Brazil was the country that produced the most RCTs, and the USA was the main collaborator. We emphasize the variability of reporting characteristics and study conduct.
这项元研究旨在评估已发表的牙科随机对照试验（RCT）的实施情况、报告情况及主要特征。在PubMed上对2016年12月31日至2021年12月31日索引的牙科RCT进行了检索。两名评审员独立筛选研究是否符合纳入标准。仅考虑英文研究。收集了期刊和作者数据、主题、引用和出版指标、报告以及研究实施细节。呈现了数据的描述性分析、每个国家RCT数量的地图以及不同国家之间科学合作的网络图。我们纳入了844篇文章。主要研究领域是牙周病学（16.35%）。RCT数量最多的是巴西（16.59%）。美国的作者与其他国家建立的联系最多。大多数研究未报告使用CONSORT情况（67.89%）、随机化类型（69.31%）或用于实施随机分配序列的机制（52.37%）。然而，大多数研究在标题中包含“随机化”（71.92%），并报告了生成随机分配序列的方法（65.88%）和盲法（74.88%）。RCT是临床决策的基础。我们的结果能更好地呈现当前RCT的情况，并确定需要改进的领域。巴西是产生RCT数量最多的国家，美国是主要合作国家。我们强调报告特征和研究实施的变异性。
