Med Clin Barcelona
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C-reactive protein (CRP) has been considered a marker for infection and an aid for diagnosing sepsis. We analyze the relation of CRP to infection and outcome in intensive care units (ICU) patients. ⋯ CRP level on admission is an useful marker for early infection but not for outcome in critically ill patients admited to the ICU.
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Nonrandomized intervention trials are needed when randomized clinical trials cannot be performed. To report the results from nonrandomized intervention studies transparently, the TREND (Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs) checklist should be used. This implies that nonrandomized studies should follow the remaining methodological tools usually employed in randomized trials and that the uncertainty introduced by the allocation mechanism should be explicitly reported and, if possible, quantified.
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With the publication of the CONSORT statement there is now increased awareness of the need to adequately report the findings of randomised controlled trials. The CONSORT statement includes a checklist of items that should be addressed in the trial report. ⋯ The process of allocating groups of participants raises additional reporting considerations and led to the publication of an extension to the CONSORT statement specifically for cluster randomised trials. In this paper we review the CONSORT extension to cluster randomised trials, outlining the special features of the cluster randomised trial which must be considered.