A network analysis of the propagation of evidence regarding the effectiveness of fat-controlled diets in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD): Selective citation in reviews.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine how the first randomised controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of cholesterol-lowering diets in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease were interpreted in reviews of the literature prior to the National Institutes of Health consensus conference in 1984.

Design

Claim-specific citation network analysis was used to study the network of citations between reviews and RCTs over a defined period (1969-1984). RCTs were identified and classified according to whether their conclusions supported or opposed the use of dietary fat modification/restriction in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Each review published in this period that cited any of the RCTs was classified as supportive, neutral, or unsupportive to the use of diet

SUBMITTER: Leng RI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5968408 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature