Community dentistry and oral epidemiology
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Community Dent Oral Epidemiol · Feb 2012
Quality of cluster randomized controlled trials in oral health: a systematic review of reports published between 2005 and 2009.
To assess the quality of methods and reporting of recently published cluster randomized trials (CRTs) in oral health. ⋯ These results suggest that the quality of recent CRTs in oral health is relatively high and appears to compare favourably with other fields. However, there remains room for improvement. Authors of future trials should endeavour to ensure sample size calculations and analyses properly account for clustering (and are reported as such), consider the potential for recruitment/identification bias at the design stage, describe the steps taken to avoid this in the final report and report observed ICCs and cluster-level eligibility criteria.