Diseases of the colon and rectum
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Case Reports Comparative Study
Clinical studies in surgical journals--have we improved?
A critical appraisal of all clinical studies published in 1980 and 1990 in three surgical journals--Diseases of the Colon and Rectum (DCR), Surgery (SURG), and the British Journal of Surgery (BJS)--was made to ascertain the frequency with which various research designs appeared, the standard of individual clinical studies, and a comparison of changes in the past decade. Clinical studies were classified into case studies or comparative studies. Comparative studies included randomized controlled trials (RCT), nonrandomized controlled trials, retrospective cohorts, and case-control studies. ⋯ There was no significant difference in the standard of comparative studies among the three journals in 1990. In conclusion, there has been no overall increase in the proportion of stronger clinical trial designs in the journals reviewed. A small increase seen in the overall standard of comparative studies was not statistically significant.