Journal of clinical epidemiology
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Conflicts of interest (COIs) are increasingly recognized as important to disclose and manage in health research. The objective of this study was to assess the reporting of both financial and nonfinancial COI by authors of randomized controlled trials published in a representative sample of clinical journals. ⋯ More than half of published randomized controlled trials report that at least one author has a COI. Trial authors report financial COIs more often than nonfinancial COIs and individual COIs more frequently than institutional COIs.
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Practice Guideline
The GRADE Working Group clarifies the construct of certainty of evidence.
To clarify the grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation (GRADE) definition of certainty of evidence and suggest possible approaches to rating certainty of the evidence for systematic reviews, health technology assessments, and guidelines. ⋯ It is desirable for systematic review authors, guideline panelists, and health technology assessors to specify the threshold or ranges they are using when rating the certainty in evidence.
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The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Dutch-Flemish Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function item bank in Dutch patients with chronic pain. ⋯ The Dutch-Flemish PROMIS Physical Function item bank exhibited good psychometric properties. Development of a computer adaptive test based on the large bank is warranted.
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Propensity score (PS) analysis allows an unbiased estimate of treatment effects but assumes that all confounders are measured. We assessed the impact of omitting confounders from a PS analysis on clinical decision making. ⋯ The omission of strongly negative confounding variables from a PS analysis can lead to incorrect clinical decision making. However, omitting these variables also decreases the analysis power, which may prevent the reporting of significant but misleading effects.