Does a "Level I Evidence" rating imply high quality of reporting in orthopaedic randomised controlled trials?

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Levels of Evidence Rating System is widely believed to categorize studies by quality, with Level I studies representing the highest quality evidence. We aimed to determine the reporting quality of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) published in the most frequently cited general orthopaedic journals.

Methods

Two assessors identified orthopaedic journals that reported a level of evidence rating in their abstracts from January 2003 to December 2004 by searching the instructions for authors of the highest impact general orthopaedic journals. Based upon a priori eligibility criteria, two assessors hand searched all issues of the eligible journal from 2003-2004 for RCTs. The assessors extracted the demographic information and the evidence rating from each included

SUBMITTER: Poolman RW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1590046 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature