• Pedro Domingues Goi, Julia Domingues Goi, Kariny Larissa Cordini, Keila Mendes Ceresér, and RochaNeusa Sica daNSPostgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil..
• Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
• Sao Paulo Med J. 2014 Jan 1; 132 (3): 178183178-83.

Context And ObjectiveCase-control studies are important in developing clinical and public health knowledge. The STROBE statement (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational Studies in Epidemiology) was developed to establish a checklist of items that should be included in articles reporting observational studies. Our aim was to analyze whether the psychiatric case-control articles published in Brazilian journals with CAPES Qualis rating B1/B2 in 2009 conformed with the STROBE statement.Design And SettingDescriptive study on psychiatric papers published in Brazilian journals, within the Postgraduate Medical Program on Psychiatry, at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.MethodsAll psychiatric case-control studies from Brazilian Qualis B1/B2 journals of psychiatry, neurology and public health in 2009 were analyzed. The four most specific items of the STROBE statement were used to evaluate whether these studies fitted within the case-control parameters: 1) selection of cases and controls; 2) controlling for bias; 3) statistical analysis; and 4) presentation of results.ResultsSixteen case-control studies were identified, of which eleven (68.75%) were in psychiatry-focused journals. From analysis using the STROBE statement, all of the articles conformed with item 1; two (12.5%) completely conformed with item 2; none completely conformed with item 3; and only three (18.8%) conformed with item 4.ConclusionThe case-control studies analyzed here did not completely conform with the four STROBE statement items for case-control design. In view of the inadequate methodology of the published studies, these findings justify focusing on research and methodology and expanding the investigations on adherence of studies to their designs.

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